600 Randall Court, Marengo, IL

A message from Marengo Police Chief Joseph M. Hallman:

On August 28th around 4:30 p.m. we answered a call for service in the 700 block of Randall Court. As it turns out, this victim (elderly, single female) was victimized previously and lost a significant amount of money she kept in the house.

This time, nothing was missing since new precautions / measures had been taken.

The offender was described as a white male, tall, grey thinning hair, unshaven face with a heavy “accent” (not sure what type).

The victim is sure that someone else entered her residence when she was distracted by the man described and went through her drawers, cabinets, etc. although she did not see anyone else.

She also said that the vehicle parked in front of her house was a larger van that was navy blue in color.

The method of operation was to speak to the victim about cutting the retention pond area behind her house walking with her to the back porch as it appears that another individual did enter the residence and look though various items for valuables during the distraction.

Unfortunately, we were not contacted as this was occurring and we arrived after the suspects fled the scene.

We would welcome any / all tips people may have and we will diligently follow up on these tips.

Please pass this along to the group.

As an aside, I have been meeting with various Homeowners Associations to implement some neighborhood watch programs to help combat these and other issues.