50 SHADES OF RYAN BRANDIS: Downstate Kid Finds His Way To Wrigleyville, Boystown

Well, he hasn’t hit 50 arrests yet, but he’s certainly on his way.

Ryan L. Brandis, 26, has found himself behind bars far more often than most people his age. Perhaps there were just a bunch of misunderstandings and paperwork snafus.

He grew up in downstate Streator, Illinois, and then managed to drift his way to our neighborhood, where he established an address of record at 3179 N. Broadway. At the time, that was the site of the Broadway Youth Center.

Maybe he came to our neighborhood because he had worn out his welcome back home:

  • In October 2005, he was arrested in Streator for failing to appear on a charge of theft under $300.
  • November 2006, arrested in Streator for failure to appear on a burglary charge.
  • April 2007, arrested for felony retail theft at a Kroger grocery store in Streator.
  • May 2007, arrested in Streator on a probation violation warrant on a charge of burglary in La Salle County, IL.

None of that means that he was guilty of anything, of course.

Once Brandis planted his feet at the BYC, he got familiarized with the Town Hall police station from the inside out. Again, just because he was arrested all of these times does not mean that he was guilty:

• Marijuana possession on April 8, 2012
• Marijuana possession on July 14, 2012
• Assault on August 25, 2012
• Theft on September 15, 2012
• Theft on October 5, 2012
• Trespassing on December 27, 2012
• Trespassing on February 9, 2013
• Trespassing on March 22, 2013
• Battery on August 13, 2013

And he’s still in the neighborhood.

The 19th district CAPS office has a Court Advocacy program that works to send messages to defendants and to judges by focusing on cases that are of particular interest to the community. We have a nominee.

Images (clockwise from top left): Siterunning.info; Siterunning.info; 
JustMugshots.com; Siterunning.info; JailBase.com; Siterunning.info.
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CWBChicago was created in 2013 by five residents of Wrigleyville and Boystown who had grown disheartened with inaccurate information that was being provided at local Community Policing (CAPS) meetings. Our coverage area has expanded since then to cover Lincoln Park, River North, The Loop, Uptown, and other North Side Areas. But our mission remains unchanged: To provide original public safety reporting with better context and greater detail than mainstream media outlets. Our editorial email address is news@cwbchicago.com