Sex Offender Observed Near School

When a police officer on patrol spotted a man driving a maroon Jeep near Gemini Junior High School in Niles on May 11 about 8:30 a.m., he ran a check of the vehicle registration number.

It was listed to a woman in the 8000 block of Foster Lane in Niles, and the officer knew that a man with the same last name registered as a child sex offender, Joseph M. Branson, lived at the address. 

Since the officer was the school resource officer at Gemini, he went to his office, checked a file of known sex offenders and positively identified the driver of the Jeep as Branson. He also learned Branson had a suspended driver's license.

The officer and a sergeant went to Branson's home and took him into custody, since sex offenders are not allowed to be within 500 feet of a school. The Cook County State's Attorney''s Office denied charging Branson with a felony, but police processed him for the suspended license. His court date is June 20. 

Bomb squad checks suspicious briefcase

A grocery shopper at a store in the 5600 block of Touhy Avenue called police about 6:10 p.m. May 11 to report a black briefcase leaning against a parking lot curb. The store looked at its surveillance footage and narrowed down the time the briefcase appeared, to about 6:05 p.. May 11, but did not show anyone placing it there. Police called the Cook County bomb squad, which determined the briefcase didn't contain any suspicious materials about an hour later.