Two men were arrested and charged for their involvement in a multistate theft ring. The two are suspected of stealing $5 million worth of jewelry, clothing, and other items.
Consequently, they are now facing two felony charges and more are expected to be given. Three others were arrested, but soon after they were released. The theft ring started to be investigated last month when they stole a semi-truck carrying toys.
On the evening of September 19, a surveillance video shows suspects Erick Bautista and Edwin Ramirez, breaking into a loaded semi truck that was parked at a storage yard in Lyons, Illinois. Police arrived on the scene but found no suspects. A few hours later the duo returned and hooked up the trailer.
The two then took it to a warehouse located on West Roosevelt in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. The trailer contained 800 cartons that were mostly filled $42,000 worth of toys.
The truck was found a short time after. Along with the toys, police recovered stolen goods from brands such as Adidas, Apple, Nike, Supreme, UGG and Yeezy.
How stolen goods were used
The warehouse was being used as storage for many other stolen goods. Allegedly, the suspects were simultaneously running a resale business called “ozzies shoes.”
The stolen merchandise were being repacked and sold to different wholesalers. Police say they would promote the sell of these goods on social media or by word of mouth. Then, buyers would then go to the warehouse to purchase these items. Additionally, the buyers were not informed they are stolen.
The warehouse was found containing over $3.5 million of Nike shoes. Nike says that this is the biggest recovery for their stolen shoes. The Lyons Police Chief, Thomas Herion, said the Nike shoes were priced at over $2,000 each and will be returned to the company.
The theft ring spans across many states and more arrests are expected to come. This is the biggest recovery the Lyons police have ever had. Herion added that they found pairs of Air Jordan shoes that costs more than $2,000 each. Additionally, there were many Supreme t-shirts that costs $55 a piece and even full shipments of shoes made for college basketball teams.
This investigation led police to many other leads. These are connected to other states like Tennessee, California, and Arkansas.
Trailer robberies like this have been happening more often. Therefore, truck drivers are advised to use GPS trackers, as it is the easiest way to locate stolen vehicles.
Similar Theft Ring In L.A.
In Los Angeles, 10 people were arrested after over $218,000 of stolen merchandise was found earlier last month. LAPD teamed with the California Highway Patrol’s Organized Retail Theft Task Force to recover merchandise. Seven men and three women were arrested.
The arrests were made after the stolen items were found in the backyard of a Los Angeles residence. This home was a “fence,” where stolen goods would be sold online or in person. Investigators learned the items were also being sold at different swap meets around the Los Angeles area.
A “fence” is a person or group of people who buy merchandise stolen during smash-and-grab robberies and organized retail thefts. Since the items are stolen they are sold at a very cheap price. They then sell those goods as a seemingly legitimate business, online, or at swap meets
In this case, law enforcement recovered over 8,800 items with prices that added up to $218,379.69. These items came from stores like CVS, Victoria’s Secret, Amazon, Rite Aid, Ralphs and Walgreens. Detectives also recovered $44,836 in cash as evidence.
By Jamarion Thomas
Sources
wgntv: 2 charged in $5M high-end theft ring: Lyons police
cbsnews: 2 charged in high-end theft ring worth millions, spanning across multiple states
abc7chicago: Lyons police recover $5M in stolen merchandise; 2 men arrested in multistate theft ring
Insert image courtesy of Karl Baron’s Flickr page – Creative Commons License
First and featured image courtesy of Amy the nurse’s Flickr page – Creative Commons License
