ILLINOIS COMPUTERS STOLEN Computers stolen from Bellwood campaign office :: News :: PIONEER PRESS :: Proviso Herald:

Computers stolen from Bellwood campaign office

April 1, 2009

By DAVID POLLARD

April 1 is usually a day when practical jokes and friendly tricks are played on others, but Bellwood mayoral candidate Jeanette Johnson found nothing funny about the missing laptop computers from her campaign headquarters.

Bellwood Deputy Police Chief Richard Blass said police received a call about a doctor's office at 619 25th Ave. being burglarized. Blass said the nurse called the police at 8 a.m. Wednesday saying when she entered the office using a key the rear door of the office was open and a computer from the office was missing.

Blass said shortly thereafter police received a call from Johnson's campaign office, 615 25th Ave., about their door being found open. Blass said the open back door of the doctor's office provides access to a common area where access can be made to other offices in the strip mall.

Ron Scarlato, a backer of Johnson's campaign for mayor, owns the strip mall on the southeast corner of 25th Avenue and Washington Boulevard. Johnson, who is also a Bellwood police officer, said three laptop computers, a Bose radio and a box of red baseball caps were taken from her office. She estimates the total cost of the computers to be $7,000. She said she and her campaign volunteers left and locked up their campaign headquarters at 9 p.m. March 31.

She claims someone “jimmied” open the front door to gain access to her office Blass said police on the scene found no signs of forced entry. He said police are reviewing surveillance cameras footage of the area to see if they can find some clues to who the perpetrator is.

Last week one of the picture windows in the strip mall was broken and Scarlota claimed it was covert retaliation from Johnson's opponent, Bellwood Mayor Frank Pasquale, for backing her. He says this is the same thing.

“If they can't reach me they've got to go around,” he said.

Johnson was asked if the robbery could've been staged. Besides the missing computer equipment the office was in order.

“What would the purpose of me doing that?” she said.

She said the window being broken near her headquarters, removal of political signs from around her campaign office and this all ads up to one thing.

“Somebody intentionally targeted this place,” she said. “Everybody knows the area at 25th and Washington is heavily monitored by cameras.”

She said if the incident was a politically motivated she wonders why it was done so close to Election Day.

“Was that supposed to intimidate me?” she said. “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.”

Blass said the investigation has been turned over to Cook County Sheriff's Police. Derrick Baker, spokesperson for village of Bellwood, said the outside authorities have been engaged to unravel the allegations and reveal the truth no matter where it leads them and in whose direction the truth leads.