Facebook Marketplace Carjacking: Morton Grove Man Charged After Monthlong Probe

MORTON GROVE, IL — Police said a Morton Grove man used social media to arrange a carjacking near an elementary school last month.

Officers were dispatched to the corner of Gross Point Road and Reba Street shortly after 8:30 p.m. on March 28 for a report that someone had just been hijacked there.

Police were told the carjacker and the person whose car had just been stolen had used Facebook to arrange the meeting at that location, the site of Thomas Edison Elementary School.

When the purported buyer arrived, he pulled out a gun and stole the car, according to police.

A month later, Morton Grove police detectives arrested a man who lives a few blocks away and prosecutors approved a pair of felony charges against him.

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Isaiah Roach, 19, has been charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking, a class X felony carrying a six-year minimum prison sentence, and vehicular hijacking, a class 1 felony.

Roach appeared in court for the first time Tuesday in Skokie, where he was denied pretrial release and ordered held at Cook County Jail without bail.

Morton Grove police encouraged residents to use a pair of designated internet purchase exchange meeting spots in the parking lot of the department at 6101 Capulina Ave.