Man Faces Charges After Standoff Hoax In Oak Forest
UPDATED 04/22/11 11:05 a.m.
OAK FOREST, Ill. (CBS) -- The man responsible for an elaborate hostage barricade hoax in Oak Forest is looking at serious charges, and the mayor of the south suburb is furious.
As CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, Oak Forest Police Chief Gregory Anderson believes the 44-year-old man who allegedly perpetrated the hostage hoax suffers from some sort of mental illness.
As of 11 a.m., he was at Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights, undergoing a psychological well-being check. He could also face criminal charges for misleading police.
It all began Thursday afternoon, when police received a call from a friend of the man's, saying the man was suicidal, had firearms, and had threatened to harm others.
"The information that we had received during some of the investigation initially was that there had been a potential hostage who escaped the house, which turned out not to be true," Anderson said. "Another potential information we had was that the offender had threatened to shoot any police officer who would come up to the house, and then he would kill himself," Anderson said.
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A long and dramatic ordeal followed. About a dozen families were evacuated from their homes, and Kuspa went out personally to pick up pizzas for the families. A bus the suburb used for senior citizens was pressed into service as a warming center for the families, Kuspa said.
Roads were blocked off, including busy Central Avenue between 159th and 163rd streets, and neighbors half a block away found themselves inconvenienced.
Neighbor Judy McCarthy said she was told at about 4 p.m. to evacuate from her house on Mary Ann Court, a half block away from where the standoff was taking place. McCarthy said she tried to return to her home to get her cancer medication, but was not allowed.
Altogether, the standoff lasted six hours. Police got a hold of the man and spoke to him on his cell phone, as other officers stood in front of his house with a bullhorn.
"Come out with your hands up," and "we need you to answer your cell phone or the phone in the black box dropped off by an officer," and "you won't be hurt."
But there was one problem. Nobody was in the house.
When patrons at Beggars Pizza, at 15600 Cicero Ave. in Oak Forest, saw the story on the news, they noticed he was sitting there at the bar in front of their noses, and not at his home.
Meanwhile, police discovered that the house was empty around 9:15 p.m., when they forced entry after shooting pepper spray through the windows.
Upon finding the man questioned the man and sent him to a hospital.
"At this point, we don't know the potential mental condition of the person of interest is, or what the intent was at the time," Anderson said. "So at this point, I'm not going to say it's a hoax, but it turns out the information is false."
Still, Oak Forest Mayor Hank Kuspa was furious.
"I assure the taxpayers out there that we would pursue this to the fullest extent of the law to try to recoup whatever damage we could," he said.
The costs associated with the standoff were the most infuriating, he said.
"I was mad," Kuspa said. "Again, the night before, we had a lengthy budget meeting, and I know the financial straits that our community and others are in."
In earlier comments, Kuspa called the man's actions "unconscionable" He said the stunt wasted about $65,000 to $75,000 just on payroll for about 100 officers at the scene not to mention the police vehicles that were dispatched.
"This little farce was very costly in hard economic times," Kuspa said.
But Anderson said erring on the side of caution was worth it.
"The whole idea is that everybody is safe," he said. "You cannot put a price on that."
After the mental evaluation is complete, the man will be handed to police, and he could potentially face disorderly conduct, among other charges. Police are still investigating.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
