Man Hiding in Bushes Picked Up On Warrant, Cops Say

Police found a man standing behind some bushes near an apartment building on the 9500 block of South Keeler Avenue after receiving a call of tall man entering a ground floor window around 11:16 a.m. Aug. 29, reports said.

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Miguel A. Martinez Jr., 23, of the 9700 block of South Tripp Avenue, was wanted on a felony arrest warrant out of the Cook County Sheriff’s office for residential burglary and was placed under arrest.

Martinez told police he had lived in the building in the past and was there to see his sister’s boyfriend, who he had called earlier in the day on his mother’s cell phone, police said.

Police confirmed that man of the name that Martinez had given them resided at the address. An officer walked around the building and found a backpack with a red T-shirt propped up against the neighboring house, reports said.

A window screen was found pushed up with fresh pry marks on the rubber seal of the window, police said. The officer searched the bushes near where Martinez was found and discovered a small screwdriver on the ground.

Police ran a name check on Martinez when they discovered the warrant.

A neighbor came to the building and identified Martinez as the man he saw allegedly entering the ground floor window, which led to a laundry room. Police searched the inside of the building and did not find any signs of forced entry to the other units.

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Martinez’s mother arrived at the scene and told police her daughter used to live there with the man her son was said to be visiting. Police said Martinez had not been home in a couple of weeks and did not use her cell phone earlier in the day.

He was taken to the Oak Lawn police station. At the station, Martinez allegedly told police that he had not spoken to his sister’s boyfriend earlier in the day and that the boyfriend had no knowledge of Martinez being there.

Police said Martinez told them he went to retrieve some personal belongings. He admitted crawling through the window into the building’s laundry room, hoping the rear door leading to his sister’s boyfriend’s apartment was unlocked so he could get his stuff, reports said.

Martinez went back outside when he discovered the boyfriend’s door locked and instead tried to pry open the boyfriend’s bedroom window with the screwdriver, police said.

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