Four Members Of Alleged Burglary Crew Charged
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Police have charged four men, seek four more and promise additional charges in connection with the burglary crew best known for driving cars through high-end stores' front doors.
Police now say those responsible are all members of the same South Side street gang faction and said that they are responsible for more than 40 such crimes across the Midwest in the past year, and gained entry either by smashing windows or driving through doors when the stores were closed, or by using swarms of thieves when the stores were open.
In all cases, the thieves would usually be gone within two minutes of the time they entered, in order to elude police.
Typically, they wore gloves and masks, which made tracking them difficult until police captured two men who were hiding beneath a Dumpster after thieves rammed a van into the Superior Street doors of the Michigan Avenue Neiman-Marcus store in December.
Central District Commander Eugene Roy said the thieves did extensive surveillance beforehand, knew what they wanted and used maps to assure they were able to take the most valuable items in the least amount of time.
Roy says the crew adopted the door-smashing signature after retailers took other steps to discourage them. Little has been recovered and Roy admitted that police are still trying to pin down the fencing end of the operation, except to say that the goods typically sold for 30 to 40 cents on the dollar and were moved quickly as a result.
Chicago Police are working with detectives from Aurora, Oak Brook and Northbrook and have had a number of out-of-state inquiries.
Those charged were identified as 24-year-old Jawon Sellers, 23-year-old Kenneth Greene, 22-year-old Tommie Adams and 18-year-old Herschel Phillips. Wanted on arrest warrants are 34-year-old James Erwin, 26-year-old Michael Thomas, 22-year-old Deonte Johnson and 21-year-old Kendrick Adams.
A juvenile was also arrested.