Puffy Coat Thief Found With Stolen Property, Cops Say

Oak Lawn police arrested a man said to be found in possession of property that he had pilfered from cars, reports said.

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Police responded to a call around 1:40 a.m. Jan. 6, of a man allegedly rooting around the inside of the caller’s van on the 6200 block of West 94th Street. On the way to the scene, officers saw a man wearing two black puffy coats that matched the caller’s description.

The officer approached the man in the puffy coats, indentified as Jeffrey A. Smith, 23, of the 9500 block of South Ridgeland Avenue. According to the report, Smith immediately accused of the officer of “messing with him.”

Police said that Smith refused to remove his left hand from his pocket when asked by the officer. Advised that he matched the description of a person seen entering cars, Smith refused to cooperate with the officer’s questions, reports said.

While Smith was removing his coats, the officer told him to place his hands on the fence, police said. As he was doing so, the officer said a Mazda owner’s manual fell out of Smith’s clothing land on the ground.

Smith allegedly spun around and shoved the cop in the chest as the officer attempted to grab Smith’s arm as he was removing his coats.

After that, police said that Smith tried to run away but the officer had him by the shirt, causing the shirt to rip away from Smith’s body.

As Smith stumbled, officers were finally able to get control of him and put in the back of a squad car, reports said.

Police said they found a stack of CDs, a radio face plate, two phone charges, a pair of white ear buds, some cigarettes, a light and small amount of change in Smith’s pockets.

The caller who saw Smith said he recognized his clothing but did not get a good look at his face. He did not recognize any of the property in Smith’s possession as his own, reports said.

Police contacted the owner of a 2002 Chevy Malibu which appeared to be missing its radio faceplate. The owner of that car identified her CDs, phone charger and faceplate found on Smith as her own, police said. The owner said that her car was unlocked when she parked it on Jan. 5.

At the station, Smith allegedly told police that he was walking to a friend’s house to return the CDs. Police said that Smith told them the radio face plate was his, even though he did not own a car, then changed his story to say it belonged to a friend. Follow that, he became agitated, reports said.

Smith was charged with possession of stolen property, battery, criminal trespass to a motor vehicle and resisting arrest. He has a Feb. 25 court appearance in Bridgeview.

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