Aurora man accused of taking Rx meds from car at casino

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Updated: February 2, 2012 11:28AM

Elgin

Stolen prescriptions: Cameron J. Nelson, 22, of the 800 block of North Ohio Street, Aurora, was charged with burglary. He is accused of taking prescription medications from a man’s car while it was parked, unlocked, in the Grand Victoria Casino parking lot Friday. According to police, video surveillance showed a car moving between parking spaces and a man getting out of that car and walking between other vehicles. Bail was set at $80,000, and he was given a Feb. 9 court date.

Fought with officer: Tony T. Grayer, 19, of the 0-100 block of North McLean Boulevard, Elgin, was charged with felony counts of aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting a police officer, causing injury, following an incident early Thursday. According to police, he hit an officer in the hands and ran from police. Bail was set at $50,000, and he was given a Feb. 9 court date.

Water heaters taken: A property manager hired by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development told police that someone stole water heaters from two vacant HUD-owned homes in different parts of Elgin. The man said one water heater was taken from a single-family house in the 200 block of South Weston Avenue and two heaters from a duplex in the 400 block of Sherman Avenue. The thefts took place sometime between late December and Wednesday, he said. According to police reports, there was no sign of forced entry at either house, but several contractors had access to the homes.

Familiar scene: The home that was the site of a 5-year-old’s murder last fall became the site of a cellphone theft Wednesday evening. A 21-year-old Elgin woman told police she was visiting a friend who lives in the house, in the 900 block of Elma Avenue, when someone took her cellphone off of a kitchen counter. The woman said she checked the phone’s location via an Internet-based tracking system and that showed that the phone was still inside the same house somewhere. But other people in the house denied taking it, she told police. Eric Galarza Jr., 5, who lived in the house, was shot to death in October while riding in a car backing out of the home’s driveway, in a crime that police say was aimed at the child’s father.

St. Charles

Sidewalk on fire: St. Charles firefighters got an unusual emergency call about 8:06 a.m. Thursday — word that flames were coming out of a 6-foot-square excavation in the sidewalk at Woodward Drive and Peck Road. Fire department officials said they determined that an underground gas pipe was leaking and the natural gas had caught on fire. They said firefighters protected the area until a repair crew from Nicor Gas could arrive. As a precaution, officials added, the Parent Petroleum office at 3340 W. Main St. was evacuated. Fire department investigators were working with their Nicor counterparts to figure out what caused the 1-inch-diameter pipe to leak.