Local police departments provided the following reports. In all incidents where an arrest occurred, a charge is merely an accusation and not evidence of guilt.

Sometimes a cigar is just an act of vengeance

A Skokie man was found guilty in federal court for conspiring to smuggle "truckloads of Cuban cigars into the country." His activities were halted when his ex-wife alerted U.S. Customs. 

APB for Santa's elves' accountant

Someone entered an unlocked apartment in Evanston and stole model trains and two adding machines.

Four wheel drive off

Someone stole all four wheels and tires off a vehicle in a Morton Grove parking lot.

Rocks get rolled

A Glenview resident reported that $100 worth of decorative rocks had gone missing. 

The perils of a strong alumni network

A woman and her 19-year-old daughter told police that they were upstairs in their Wilmette home when they heard noises coming from the first floor. The daughter said that when she went downstairs to investigate, she saw a 20-year-old former New Trier High School classmate standing in the foyer, sifting through her mother’s purse, police reported. The daughter later told police that she recognized the intruder and that the two had mutual friends and that she had accepted a Facebook friendship request from him six months earlier, police reported.

Police said they tracked down the 20-year-old who admitted to several attempted burglaries.