Berwyn Police Blotter
Police from six towns needed to break up large, loud party of admitted gang members
May 26, 2008, 7:03 PM
Complaints led police to an extremely loud, large party in the back yard of a house in the 3800 block of Euclid. There, they found a gathering that included at least 50 self-proclaimed members of a street gang. A DJ with an amplified sound system was playing excessively loud music. A Stickney police commander, one of the first responders, saw a man holding a handgun, so he ordered the man to drop it. Instead, 18-year-old Willow Springs resident Carlos Ezequiel Campos ran toward a vehicle and threw the gun over the south fence. Campos was arrested. The gun—a .25 caliber Raven Arms model MP 25—had a serial number which proved to be nonexistent.
Berwyn police ordered everyone else to lie on the ground with their hands on their heads. All but one complied: Kenneth Karas, 28, of Westmont, reportedly yelled profanities and attempted to incite others to disobey police commands by stating, “F@&^ this bulls@&t, we don’t have to do this s@%t!” and the like. He was warned, then Tasered, to gain his compliance.
At least 30 people were taken into custody in the yard and charged with disorderly conduct. They included several juveniles, and residents of Chicago, Berwyn, Westmont, Galesburg, Willow Springs, La Grange, Stickney, Abingdon, Cicero, Lisle, and Monmouth, Illinois, as well as Lyndon Station, Wisconsin.
While police checked the property of one of the prisoners—a 35-year-old man from the 2100 block of Gunderson—they found and confiscated a silver ring representing the gang.
When Berwyn police and a K-9 officer came to search the house, a male voice yelled, “Don’t send the dog!” upon which a 20-year-old Lisle man emerged from the building.
Responders included police officers from Berwyn, Stickney, Cicero, Riverside, Lyons, and Forest View.
The party hosts were 32-year-old Robert English and 24-year-old Miranda Franks. English and Franks were each charged with one count of child endangerment. At the scene, police recovered a number of gang-related items, including a white sweater with a black bunny, a black belt with white letters spelling out the gang’s name, and a set of black nunchucks.
English was advised he was ineligible to post bond, since he was already out on bond from Cicero on misdemeanor charges. English reportedly proceeded to make threats against officers and their families; he stated he could pay someone to get their addresses and license numbers, and would no longer advise his “shorties” (underlings) to “back off cops.” The report said English then stated that he would force an officer to kill him or he would kill himself. He was placed on suicide watch.
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