Page 48 - December 2019 FOP Magazine

CPMF recognizes team effort to catch suspect
n BY DAN CAMPANA
Collaboration among Chicago Police Officers happens every day, but some cases call for a different level of teamwork.
One such incident over the summer led the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation (CPMF) to bestow its November Officer of the Month award on 13 of the city’s finest — Sergeants Brian Roney and Brian Forberg; Detectives Scott Reiff, Dale Potter Jr., Nick Evangelides, Carol Maresso, Sal Aloisio, Marc Lapadula, Nestor DeJesus, Shaun Fletcher, Joe Merkel and Mickel Her- man; and Officer Kevin Kilroy — for their collective efforts to apprehend a man who attacked victims in Lincoln Park, car- jacked and burned vehicles and then fled the state before being captured in Texas.
According to officials, a woman had her throat slit during a July assault. Detectives and other units worked together — and utilized a variety of video camera footage — to identify the sus- pect’s possible vehicle. They determined the vehicle had been stolen about 17 hours before the woman was attacked.
The detectives reviewed other cases with a matching pattern of violent crimes and interviewed witnesses who helped iden- tify the suspect as a parolee. Further investigation revealed that the suspect matched the description of an offender in other in- cidents, including another carjacking.
Using the suspect’s phone number and address, officers, de- tectives, the CPD Fugitive Unit and U.S. Marshals Office con- ducted surveillance on the man’s home and obtained search warrants. Investigators working off tips learned the man was on a bus traveling from Texas to Arizona.
The fugitive team arranged for surveillance of the bus de- pot in Houston, where the man was observed boarding a bus. Marshals stopped the bus and arrested the suspect, who was brought back to Illinois and charged with multiple crimes, in- cluding attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, aggravated battery involving great bodily harm, armed robbery, arson and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
CPMF officials honored the group as an example of the countless hours that officers put into securing the arrest of a violent offender, using a variety of resources and working with law enforcement agencies from around the country.
“As a former detective, I know what is involved to put all the pieces together, the countless interviews, gathering enough evidence to get search warrants, and know the examination of hours of video surveillance to make a strong case,” said Frank Gross, CPMF’s director of operations.
48 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2019
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