Man takes woman’s wallet at CTA station

A man struck up a conversation with a woman and then stole her wallet Thursday evening at the Main Street CTA station, according to police.

While the woman was waiting on the El platform at about 6:15 p.m., the man started talking to her and boarded the same train toward Chicago as she did, Evanston Police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said. By about 6:30 p.m., the woman noticed her wallet was missing.

The woman did not see anyone reach into her purse, Parrott said. She did not know whether the man took her wallet on the platform or train.

The wallet contained credit cards and $1,000 in cash, Parrott said.

Police described the man as white, 40 to 59 years old, 6 feet tall, having brown hair and wearing a brown jacket.

3 women steal 100 gift cards from Dominick’s

Three women took about 100 gift cards Thursday afternoon from the Dominick’s in west Evanston, according to police.

At about 4 p.m., the women took the Visa gift cards from three stands at the grocery store, 1910 Dempster St., and put them in their purses, Parrott said. The gift cards were not activated.

Two of the women dropped the gift cards and fled as loss prevention agents approached them, Parrott said. The women escaped in a red Chrysler.

Police described what the women were wearing. One of the women had on a white shirt, black pants and blue jacket, and she was carrying a blue purse. One of the women had on a black jacket with gold wings on the back and a pink hat, and she was carrying a silver purse. The third woman had on a black jacket and black shirt, and she was carrying a black purse.

Boy takes man’s laptop while staying at man’s house

A 17-year-old boy stole a 58-year-old man’s laptop while the boy stayed at the man’s house Thursday near the Northwestern campus, according to police.

While the man was at work between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., the boy took the man’s Apple laptop from his house in the 1200 block of Noyes Street, Parrott said. Although the boy and man know each other, police on Friday did not have further information about their relationship.

The laptop is valued at about $3,000, Parrott said.

The incident happened about a half mile from the campus.

— Patrick Svitek