Crime & Safety
Hinsdale Woman Explains AR-15 Under Bed: Cops
She was supposed to have surrendered guns, but did not, police said.
HINSDALE, IL – A Hinsdale woman who repeatedly trespassed on neighbors' properties explained to officers how she ended up with a gun, local police said.
Ultimately, officers did not believe her.
Debra Kaleta-Nigri, 60, who lived in the 800 block of West North Street, faces a felony charge. Patch obtained the police report through a public records request.
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During a Sept. 29 eviction, a cleaning company was removing Kaleta-Nigri's belongings when it found an AR-15 underneath a bed, a loaded magazine with 25 rounds, and a shipping envelope with the gun's instruction manual, police said.
The company turned it over to a sheriff's deputy who was overseeing the eviction.
Find out what's happening in Hinsdale-Clarendon Hillsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Police said she stole the gun from a neighbor's house three years earlier.
When Hinsdale police asked Kaleta-Nigri about the gun, she said she found it in her backyard, saying it had been in her house for "a long time," according to the police report. She said she called the firearm company, Rock River Arms, and got the instruction manual mailed to her.
She acknowledged that a condition for her release on the trespassing charges was to surrender any guns and her firearm owner's identification card, if she had one, police said.
She said she did not want to return the gun because she likes firearms, police said.
Police said they could find no record of Kaleta-Nigri having been issued a firearm owner's card.
She was charged with possession of a stolen firearm.
In the month before the gun was found, Kaleta-Nigri had disturbed neighbors, drawing no-trespass notices for at least 17 nearby houses, police said. Authorities said she had entered houses through unlocked doors and asked for things such as food and wine, as well as a place to charge her phone. Her home was believed to have been without power for some time.
At the time the gun was found, Kaleta-Nigri was already in custody on a retail theft charge. She was accused of stealing a bottle of alcohol from Walgreens, 15 Grant Square, police said.
The landlord and others were clearing the belongings of Debra Kaleta-Nigri on Oct. 1 in the 800 block of West North Street. (David Giuliani/Patch)
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