Police beat
Elgin
• A burglar made off with a mother lode of junk food this week, taking animal crackers, potato chips, Twix bars and other assorted vending machine fodder from an Aramark Corp. truck, police said. The burglary, which totaled more than $200 in chips and candy, occurred Thursday or Friday in a parking lot on the 2500 block of Westfield Drive. A lock on the back of the truck was missing. Police were unable to obtain any physical evidence because the driver delivered the remaining goods before contacting police.
• A convenience store clerk learned armed robbery was no laughing matter when a young man robbed her at gunpoint Friday evening, police said. The robbery took place around 7:15 p.m. at a store on the 1100 block of McLean Boulevard. When the youth, who had concealed his face with a mask, initially demanded money, the clerk laughed because "she thought it was a joke and the subject looked so young," according to a police report. But the clerk handed over as much as $200 in cash when the robber repeated his demand. The clerk and a witness locked themselves in the store office and called police.
• The owner of a black 2005 Chevrolet Impala reported her car missing Friday, police said. The 22-year-old Elgin woman who owns the car said she parked and locked the car Friday morning outside her workplace. At 5 p.m., she discovered the car was missing. She later told police she had left her keys in the car, the report said.
• A middle-aged man sped off with a young woman's car after tricking the woman and her sister into exiting the vehicle, police said. The two young women agreed to have a drink with the man and drove with him to a liquor store. They then drove to an intersection, where the man said he had to look for something. The man and the two sisters got out of the car and started looking around on the ground. The man then jumped back in the car, a white 1993 Pontiac Grand Prix, and drove off. The 23-year-old St. Charles woman who owns the car said the man was between 40 and 50 years old and said she did not know his full name. She did, however, find his wallet near the scene, the report said.
Carpentersville
• A dog died in an early morning house fire on Friday that started when a candle burned down to the end of its wick, firefighters said. A woman who lived in the house was awakened just after 7 a.m. by the smell of smoke and was able to exit the house safely. The woman ran to a neighbor's house and called 911. By the time firefighters arrived four minutes later, flames were shooting out of the windows. It took firefighters 10 minutes to get the blaze under control, but the house sustained an estimated $110,000 in damage.
McHenry County
• A 37-year-old Harvard man died and a 20-year-old Huntley woman was hospitalized after their cars collided Friday morning at Route 47 and Obrien Road in unincorporated Hebron, police said. At 10:17 a.m., a Dodge Neon was headed south on Route 47 when a Buick going east on Obrien failed to yield at a stop sign, causing the crash, police said. The Buick came to rest on a guardrail. Its driver, John A. Zaccagnini, was pronounced dead at the scene. The Neon driver, Catherine L. Fuhrer, was extricated out of her car and flown to Rockford Memorial Hospital, where she was in good condition on Saturday. An investigation is ongoing.