La Grange-Area Suspect Takes Cab To Victim's House: Cops

La Grange IL

01 March, 2021

5:03 PM

Description

RIVERSIDE, IL — A La Grange Highlands man found himself in trouble with the law Monday after he again attempted to enter the same house in Riverside, according to a police report. About 1:30 a.m., a homeowner in the 200 block of East Quincy Street called police to report that someone was trying to get into the back door again and that it was the same man who has been going to the house over some time, according to a police news release. However, this time it was during the early morning hours. When police arrived, the suspect, identified as 71-year-old Lawrence O'Keefe, was fleeing in a taxi, the release said. Police said they learned O'Keefe had taken a taxi to the house, where he lived about two decades ago. He was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing and on two Hillside warrants charging harassment and disorderly conduct, police said. O'Keefe has been warned numerous times to not go onto the property in question, police said. He was arrested most recently near the house late last month. O'Keefe previously threatened to kill Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel and other Riverside police officers, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count in 2019 in connection with the threat against the chief, according to the news release. He also has been arrested on charges of threatening public officials in Oak Brook and Hillside, police said. In Monday's incident, he was stopped in the taxi at Harlem Avenue and Pershing Road in Lyons, police said. Inside the taxi were groceries he bought before coming to Riverside.