Crime & Safety
Batavia Police, Canine Help Capture Man Charged With Train-Station Car Burglaries
The following information was supplied by the Geneva Police Department. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction.
Quick action by a train conductor, Geneva and Batavia police and the well-trained nose of a police dog resulted in the capture and arrest of a 21-year-old Geneva man on charges of burglary to motor vehicle.
Geneva police arrested Scott Francis on charges of burglary from a motor vehicle around 3:08 a.m. Aug. 31, reports said.
The arrest report is a tale of athletic escape and police teamwork to apprehend a man who had hopped a fence and had all but gotten away from the scene.
According to reports, Tri-Com dispatch was advised by a Union Pacific Railroad dispatch from a train conductor that an offender was going from vehicle to vehicle and possibly forcing entry to cars at the Geneva Metra station.
When the first officer arrived, he located a Subaru Legacy in the northwest commuter lot with the driver’s-side rear window smashed out. Another officer checked the southwest parking lot and spotted a white male — later identified as Francis — walking east along the fence line. Francis ran south and jumped the fence, then ran south toward Cheever Avenue evading Geneva officers.
Two Batavia officers arrived and formed a perimeter, and police requested a Kane County Sheriff's Office canine unit be brought to the scene.
The dog was able to find Francis in a back yard in the 700 block of Shady Avenue, and Francis was taken into custody without incident.
Police later located a Honda CRV in the southwest parking lot with its front passenger-side window broken and two large pieces of rock next to the vehicle. Deputies also found a black binoculars case and Leatherman tool near the back yard of a house in the 300 block of Cheever Avenue.
Patch reports on law enforcement activity in Geneva, using information provided by official agencies. Persons charged with a crime, or issued a citation for violation of a local ordinance, are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If you or a family member are charged with a crime or cited for a violation, and the charge or citation is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify Geneva editor Rick Nagel at rickn@patch.com and we will do follow-up reporting on the case.
