Police Arrest Pickpocket Crew at Northbrook Court

The following report was provided by the Northbrook weekly staff memo.

Over the last year, a prolific pickpocket crew has been victimizing the suburbs of Chicago. Their routine is to steal wallets from shoppers and then immediately use the victims’ credit cards to purchase untraceable gift cards and high end (easily fenced) electronics.

Detective McGuinnes participated in a meeting on an ad hoc task force run by the Special Prosecutions unit of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office on Monday July 22, 2013 to form a plan to deal with the crew.

On Tuesday, July 23, an alert loss prevention agent at Northbrook Court spotted the crew and notified the Police Department. Patrol units responded and eventually took five people into custody. Three of the offenders were held and interviewed by police agencies.

One offender was charged with being an Organizer of a Continuing Financial Crimes Enterprise, a Class X felony. Two others were charged with a Continuing Financial Crimes Enterprise, a Class 1 Felony.

Over a dozen towns were involved in this complicated investigation and many more charges are forthcoming. This was a real team effort from the members of the Northbrook Police Department as well as other agencies.


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