WICKER PARK — Christian DeBoer, the Wicker Park man who got arrested for trespassing after allegedly trying to reopen the shuttered Crocodile Lounge, was taken into police custody Friday after a business owner spotted the 30-year-old man on the street and flagged down officers.
DeBoer was wanted for skipping out on a court date for theft of services. Derek Mullins, a local business owner aware of DeBoer's notoriety, spotted him in front of his store last week and approached him.
"I said, Christian DeBoer, really? And he said, who the f-- are you?" recalled Mullins, owner of a business in the 1400 block of North Milwaukee Ave.
As DeBoer walked away and headed north to the six-corners intersection, Mullins called 911.
"I said, 'Police, this guy has a warrant for his arrest! He crossed the street. Around Debonair [Social Club] I crossed the street and a police SUV was parked there. [DeBoer] ignored the police and said 'excuse me, sir' until the officer actually grabbed his arm and said can you not hear me talking to you?," Mullins said.
DeBoer is now in Cook County Jail being held in lieu of $500 bail. He has a court dates on March 29 and April 19.
He has two active misdemeanor cases, both for theft of labor or services, according to court records.
Officer Kevin Quaid, a Chicago Police spokesman, confirmed that DeBoer was arrested on the 1500 block of North Milwaukee Friday and was charged with issuance of a warrant for failure to appear in court.
"He had an initial court date for an active warrant and did not show up," Quaid said.
Quaid could not say what the thefts were.
Brooke Englehart, a tattoo artist at Tatu Tattoo, 1745 W. North Ave., filed a police report in January after she said she inked a straight razor with splattered blood on DeBoer's left forearm and he went to the ATM to grab cash to pay for it — and never came back.
On Wednesday, Englehart said she went to court last week to face DeBoer over the alleged stolen tattoo but DeBoer was not there.
"They pulled an alias [second] summons on him. They have a few different warrants for him. I was told by a police detective that [DeBoers] is not interested in pleading guilty at this time and wants to go to trial. He has since tried to get a tattoo put over the other tattoo," Englehart said.
Englehart said she and other victims, including a hair stylist who says she was stiffed over a hair cut she gave DeBoer, plan to show up at the March 29 court date.
"I am going to pursue it and see what will happen. I'm lucky my job is flexible and I can make it to all these silly court dates. If I didn't know he was doing it to a lot of people I would have just dropped it. I am pursuing it for all of those people. It's not heroic; it's just more of a nuisance," Englehart said.
After a DNAinfo report featuring DeBoer trying to reopen Crocodile surfaced, local business owners pointed to an online campaign about his alleged thefts.
