12/16/22
Between 2:20-2:45 a.m. Thursday, a U. of I. student reported that he was the victim of an assault in the 100 block of East John Street, Champaign. The student was approached by a group of five or six males who knocked two sandwiches out of his hand and called him homophobic slurs while the student was walking to his apartment with a friend. Police continue to investigate.
It was reported Wednesday that a U. of I. student was the victim of check fraud. The student listed his apartment for sublease on a social media website and began to correspond with an interested person from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The person mailed the student a check for $3,050. The student cashed the check and then sent the person $2,000 via a money-sharing app for moving expenses. The student’s bank later informed him that the original check was fraudulent.
At 6:43 a.m. Wednesday, Tyler A. Faulkner, 33, of Champaign, was arrested on charges of burglary and criminal damage to property after police responded to a burglary-in-progress call at a marijuana dispensary in the 100 block of East Green Street, Champaign. Faulkner fled in his vehicle but was stopped by Champaign police at 6:53 a.m. in the 1900 block of Moreland Boulevard, Champaign, on an unrelated traffic charge. Faulkner is accused of using a shovel to break into the lobby of the business via the front window. The damage to the window, a computer and a scanner was estimated at more than $4,000.
It was reported at 9:14 a.m. Thursday that two cars were burglarized at an apartment complex in the 200 block of East Green Street, Champaign. A cellphone charger valued at $20 and $40 were stolen from the vehicles, only one of which was locked.
At 12:22 a.m. Friday near the corner of West Pennsylvania Avenue and South Virginia Drive, Urbana, Brandon L. Turk, 27, of Urbana, was arrested on a city of Champaign warrant and on a charge of delivery/manufacture of cannabis over 30 grams during a traffic stop. Turk was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over for disobeying a stop sign. Police searched Turk and found 184 grams of cannabis, 14 $20 bills, eight debit and credit cards, plastic bags, a scale and other drug-related paraphernalia.
Please note: Those arrested are presumed innocent until proved guilty, and formal charges may change as cases are adjudicated. For more information about the incidents listed here, please contact the U. of I. Police Department at 217-333-1216 or .