CHICAGO — The arrests of a handful of migrants living inside Chicago police stations have made headlines recently, like the one accused of obstructing cops who tried to catch a thief and another who allegedly stabbed a fellow migrant over restroom cleanliness.
But those are just the beginning. Dozens (some CPD employees say hundreds) of migrants have been cited for driving without licenses and insurance. And then there are these:
Jose David Diaz, a 26-year-old resident of the Near South Health Center at 3525 South Michigan, was charged last week with unlawful use of a weapon for possessing ammunition without a Firearm Owner’s ID card.
The director of migrant housing at the shelter, which is located across the street from police headquarters, told officers he found live ammunition under Diaz’s bed while cleaning his room.
Diaz said “he found the ammunition and brought them to the shelter with the intention to sell them,” his arrest report states. The paperwork did not say how many bullets were recovered.
In the Loop, Victor Hugo Rivero Medina, 41, of the Standard Club shelter at 320 South Plymouth, is charged with unlawful use of a weapon with intent. He was arrested on August 26 by officers responding to a battery in progress call who said they saw him walking toward another person with a machete in his hand.
Medina’s arrest report said he tossed the machete into a bush when he saw the cops coming.
Some migrants have gotten into the swing of things by being arrested twice recently.
Like Carlos Mavarez Viloria, 26, also of the Standard Club. According to court records, he was arrested on July 12 on allegations that he stole 10 Major League Baseball hats, watches, a backpack, and food, with a total value of $193, from Walmart.
A judge put out a warrant for his arrest when he failed to appear in court on August 29. But he wasn’t on the lam for long. Chicago police arrested him the next day after security at Macy’s, 111 South State, said he tried to shoplift $158 worth of t-shirts.
Jhombeiker Martinez Quintero, 20, was also arrested at Macy’s. On August 13, he was charged with retail theft after security officers said they saw him walk into a fitting room with $1102 worth of clothing and shoes that he stuffed into a backpack and brown bag before trying to walk out of the store.
He was released on his own recognizance and told to appear in court on August 21.
One day before his court date, he was arrested again around 3:40 a.m. in the 2500 block of South Kedzie. That arrest report said he took a security guard’s baton and struck a 36-year-old man in the head with it. The injured man was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital for a laceration to his head, but the report said his injuries were not severe enough to warrant felony charges.
Quintero’s home address was listed as the Standard Club in the first arrest report, but he apparently moved to the Near South Health Center before his second arrest.
Reinaldo Acosta, 31, is certainly getting into the Chicago groove. Sporting a Michael Jordan tattoo on one side of his neck and a Nike logo on the other, he was arrested at the Nordstrom Rack store just off the Mag Mile on August 16.
Security officers said he went to the store’s watch department and used wirecutters to remove anti-theft devices from three watches that he placed into a toiletry bag. He was released on his own recognizance.
Acosta, who lives at the Standard Club, was arrested again on September 3 when he entered Dick’s Sporting Goods, 1538 North Clybourn. Store employees recognized him from a July 21 incident where he allegedly used a security tag removal device to take sensors off merchandise as he walked around the store.
He’s accused of stealing a Bulls shirt and a Michael Jordan backpack.
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