A band of newly arrived migrants who may be part of a bigger crime ring are allegedly behind a string of retail thefts and burglaries plaguing a Chicago suburb, police said.
In all, 47 migrants have been arrested since October in the village of Oak Brook, about 20 miles west of the Second City, Chief of Police Brian Strockis told Fox News, adding many of the incidents have targeted a Macy’s in the local mall.
On Jan. 13, Jaime Ubaldo Obando-Andrade, 32, allegedly tried on a $395 jacket at the department store and walked out without paying for it, according to a news release from DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin’s office.
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Shoplifters will sometimes line bags with tinfoil to get around theft detection devices in stores, authorities said.
Officers also found an I.C.E. electronic monitoring device that Obando-Andrade allegedly cut off, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office. Obando-Andrade was denied pre-trial release.
In October, Venezuelan migrants Luis Mendez-Gomez, 28, and Frank Montez-Davila, 23, were arrested after they allegedly stole nearly $3,000 in high-end cosmetics from Macy’s and granted pre-trial release.
A week before that, another pair of Venezuelan migrants were arrested and charged with burglary and retail theft after they separately stole clothes from the store, authorities said.
“We want everyone to be aware of the increase in criminal activity from the migrant community coming from Chicago,” Oak Brook Deputy Chief of Police Reid Foltyniewicz said at the time.
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In December, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who previously supported sanctuary city policies, pleaded for federal help in tackling the crisis at the border.
“Without real, significant investment from our federal government, it won’t just be the city of Chicago that won’t be able to maintain this mission,” Johnson told CNN. “It’s the entire country that is now at stake.”
The Oak Brook Police Department has been working to crack down on shoplifting at the mall as one part of a statewide retail crime task force, WGN-TV reported in December. Migrants are only the latest trend in an ongoing suspected theft ring.
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Twenty-one people were charged with stealing merchandise from DuPage County stores just in the first two weeks of 2024 alone, according to Berlin’s office.
Gov. Hochul last week unveiled a plan to pump $40 million into fighting retail theft in New York in the coming year.
* Original Article:
https://nypost.com/2024/01/20/news/group-of-newly-arrived-migrants-allegedly-behind-string-of-burglaries-plaguing-chicago-suburb-police/amp/
