Officials with the Chicago Police Department have officially arrested a 15-year-old boy that has been accused of leading an elaborate crime ring that focused on stealing products from high-end beauty and hygiene stores before going on to sell the stolen goods on the black market.
As of yet, the boy has been unnamed due to the fact that he is only a minor but was officially charged this past Thursday with 21 separate felonies after he and a group of his accomplices were finally taken down in the wake of a months-long investigation by CPD.
As reported by CWB Chicago, the young boy is thought to be linked “to ten raids on Ulta stores across the city between August 27 and October 24.”
The boy, and his ring of accomplices, stand accused of entering these beauty stores, shoving as much of the product as they could into garbage bags, and then running out of the store to try and make a profit off of their ill-begotten good on the streets.
Currently, it is unclear if the following video has any relation to the currently alleged teen crime lord, but the stealing caught on camera took place at roughly the same time and around the same area as the previously mentioned heists:
Sent by a follower.
This was at the Ulta in Norridge at 4115 N Harlem near the 16th district in #Chicago pic.twitter.com/Ab59s9N2lA
— 16th & 17th District Chicago Police Scanner (@CPD1617Scanner) September 27, 2021
“Smash-and-grabs,” such as those seen in the video, have quickly become far more commonplace across major American cities, as “rogue prosecutors” more than likely end up refusing to go after these instances for a large variety of reasons. all across the nation, large organized groups of criminals have taken to walking into various high-end stores, liquor stores, pharmacies, and many other with the intent to take things off the shelves and simply wall out with them in one fell swoop.
Out in Chicago, many critics have thrown the blame almost entirely on Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) and Prosecutor Kim Foxx.
Most commonly known for her intense failure at the prosecution of convicted hate-crime hoax artist Jussie Smollett, Foxx has promised to go after and prosecute any shoplifting only if the stolen merchandise was well under $1,000 or if the suspect racked up fewer than 10 felony charges. Because of the nature of these crimes and the overall lack of action from Foxx, police authorities in Chicago have not taken steps to prevent multiple thousands of dollars worth of merchandise theft from happening on a regular basis.
This failure from Foxx seems to go well beyond just shoplifting. Back in December, it was reported by The Wall Street Journal that in her “first three years in office, Ms. Foxx dismissed all charges against nearly 30% of felony defendants, or some 25,000 felony cases including for murder, shootings and sex crimes.”
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