Police Report: A Roundup of Recent Criminal Activity

Police incident reports made available since Monday showed no serious crimes of violence or involving the use of weapons – except, perhaps, a snow shovel in one case, and fists in a physical outburst by an 11-year-old girl in another. There were also no reports of drunken driving arrests.

Retail theft, especially at Mayfair Mall, continues to be a chronic source of police calls, and there were a couple of instances of smash-and-grab thefts from vehicles, one targeting a Best Buy “Geek Squad” Beetle.

Thursday

At 9:07 p.m., the Carmelite Home for Boys, 1214 Kavanaugh Pl., reported that a 16-year-old had run away. The boy had been informed that he would be taken to juvenile detention this weekend. He had run off and been AWOL numerous times, school officials said, and did not have permission to leave. The boy’s mother said she had not seen or heard from her son. No hometown given in the report.

At 4:59 p.m., a 20-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested on an outstanding Greenfield warrant for a traffic violation after a traffic stop in Tosa for suspended registration and a defective muffler. The man did not have a driver’s license. He was released after posting bond.

At 1:07 p.m., police were called to the Target store, 3900 N. 124th St., to investigate a complaint that two unknown men had stolen $199.96 worth of Crest Whitening Strips. Store cameras recorded only one of the men selecting merchandise, but alarms went off when they left the store. They got into a white SUV with a third man and drove off.

At 12:31 p.m., a 21-year-old Franklin woman was arrested on an outstanding traffic warrant from Greenfield police. Police were called because the woman had gotten into an argument over billing at a doctor’s office in the 2400 block of Mayfair Road. She was released after posting bond.

At 11:13 p.m., a resident in 2000 block of North 117th Street gave a report to police that someone had entered his closed but unlocked garage sometime after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and stolen a number of power tools and other items worth $800.

Wednesday

At 10:34 p.m., a 24-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested at his residence in the 2200 block of North 65th Street for disorderly conduct after a neighbor called police to report an argument between a man and a woman, along with loud banging and the sound of breaking glass. Officers reported finding both people intoxicated. The man had been outside, and officers noted a broken window, a snow shovel with a bent handle and blood smears on the walls of a landing. The blood proved to be from cuts on the suspect’s hands. Both subjects continued arguing and refused to tell officers what happened. The man was arrested in what appeared to be a case of attempted forced entry.

At 8:50 p.m., a Milwaukee woman reported that $47 in cash had been stolen from a coat in her locker at , 2420 N. 124th St. She said she had locked the locker and it was locked when she returned, but officers found no signs of forced entry.

At 8:15 p.m., a New Berlin man reported that on Monday he had paid $170 for a cell phone that he later learned had been stolen. He had found the phone on Craigslist and met a man in the parking lot of Mayfair Mall, where he bought the phone. He took it to a Verizon store to activate, where he was told it had been reported stolen and was permanently deactivated.

Between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., someone broke a window of a vehicle in the Mayfair Mall parking lot and stole a Garmin GPS unit worth $400.

An employee of , 2412 N. Mayfair Rd, reported that between 3 and 3:50 p.m. someone broke out the window of a Best Buy 2009 “Geek Squad” VW Beetle and stolen a GPS unit ($300) and his Geek Squad toolkit ($200). Damage to the car was $200.

At 3:34 p.m., a 12-year-old Milwaukee boy was arrested for disorderly conduct and taken to the Milwaukee County Mental Health Center for emergency detention after his mother told officers by phone that he had been diagnosed with a number of mental disorders. Police had been called by the driver of a transport van, but the report did not say where the boy was originally being taken or what he had done to create a public disturbance.

An employee at the Sprint kiosk at Mayfair Mall reported that between 1:15 and 1:20 p.m. someone stole a cell phone worth $500. The clerk said he suspected that one of three customers, either a lone woman who looked at the phone, or one of two men who arrived together just as the woman left, had taken it off the counter before he could return it to a display case.

At 11:42 a.m., a Wauwatosa woman reported that on Jan. 6 someone had transferred $3,500 from her US Bank account without her permission. A bank officer told Wauwatosa police that a former bank employee, an 18-year-old Lakewood Center, WA, woman, had made the illegal transfer using a TTY line for deaf customers, and that she was being investigated by police there. Wauwatosa police forwarded a copy of their report to those investigators. It was not known whether the suspect was in custody.

At 10:45 a.m., an 11-year-old Milwaukee girl was arrested for battery after she attacked a psychotherapist during a group session at , 1220 Dewey Ave. The girl was receiving outpatient counseling for aggressive behavior when she became angry and began hitting the counselor. The therapist did not seek medical attention.

At 10:56 p.m., a Wauwatosa couple living on Ludington Avenue reported that someone unknown had defrauded them by identity theft in signing the husband’s name and identifying information to a We Energies account for an address on South 19th Street in Milwaukee. The couple said they did not own or live at the Milwaukee address and knew no one who did. The amount billed to them was $1,554.31.

At 9:31 a.m., a 31-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested at the Wauwatosa Police Station when he came in to take care of a bench warrant and then was found to be wanted on another warrant from the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department. He was booked as a fugitive and then released when he posted $300 bail.

Tuesday

At 5:45 p.m., a 19-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for retail theft and a 17-year-old Milwaukee girl was arrested for trespassing at Mayfair Mall. A clerk at the noticed three female customers acting suspiciously. One was carrying a large purse, and she refused to allow the clerk to inspect it before leaving the store. He noticed that the purse was lined with tin foil, which is a common attempt to escape detection by store merchandise sensors. The clerk alerted a mall security officer and the two followed the group. The owner of the purse put it down and all three made to leave the mall, but they were stopped by Wauwatosa police officers just outside the exit. The purse was recovered and found to contain two pairs of jeans from Buckle. The 17-year-old had previously been banned from the mall.

A Milwaukee woman reported that her purse had been stolen between 8:30 and 9 p.m. Monday evening from at Mayfair Mall. She had hung the purse on a clothing rack while trying on clothing when it disappeared. She said the purse had contained $400 cash.

Monday

Police were called to to investigate vandalism of the footbridge over the Menomonee River. The railing of the bridge had been spray-painted with a wavy line running its entire length, and the vandal also wrote “Have a wonderful day” in spray-paint. Police had received a suspicious character call, the area was searched, and a man was seen carrying a duffel bag. He saw the officers, left at a run and was not caught. But the original complainant told officers the graffiti was at least a week old, so it is not known what the mystery man had planned in the park.

At 6:05 p.m., a Milwaukee woman reported that her wallet had been stolen out of her purse at in Mayfair Mall. She said she had noticed a suspicious juvenile who left the area quickly. Police and mall security could not catch the boy but soon found the wallet, emptied of $140 in cash.

At 4:33 p.m., a 25-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested during a speeding stop on a Waukesha warrant for unlicensed driving. The woman still did not have a driver’s license.

Nine traffic accidents were also put on record during the period, one of them a hit and run. There was one report on an animal bite, but no details were made available.