Crime Blotter: Convenient Cops Quickly Nab Suspect

Feb. 1-6

• While the homeowner was away on vacation, the rear bedroom window of a home on the 6800 block of North Orleans Avenue was smashed through. An empty safe valued at $100 was stolen from inside.

Feb. 7

• An unlocked front window on a house on the 6900 block of North Willow Avenue was breached, and someone stole a flat screen TV and laptop computer from inside.

Feb. 8

• Police responded to a home alarm on the 8700 block of North Lynn Avenue, and arrived to find a smashed in rear kitchen window. A neighbor claimed to witness an Hispanic male dressed in a green shirt, gray hoodie and khaki cargo pants jumping the back yard fence and fleeing to the north, according to investigators. The suspect, a juvenile, was caught shortly thereafter. He also possessed marijuana, according to police.
• The front glass door to the Shanghai Express restaurant at 222 W. Waters Ave. was shattered, and $100 in rolled quarters and dimes were stolen from inside.

Feb. 9

• Police have arrested and charged Ronald Joseph Goedert, 33, with auto burglary, grand theft, and drug possession. Investigators say Goedert stole a bag containing money and items valued at $320 from a car with open windows and unlocked doors at the Sunoco gas station, 810 E. Sligh Ave. The victims were inside the gas station's store at the time, and when they noticed the theft, they alerted officers who were conducting an interview at the Nebraska and Sligh avenues intersection. The officers spotted Goedert walking by a funeral home next to the Sunoco, and witnessed him dropping a plastic bag behind a pillar, according to police. The officers detained Goedert, and one of the victims identified the bag of items as his.