2 Charged In $33K Smash-and-Grab At Orland Mall Store: PD

ORLAND PARK, IL — DNA left on a bolt cutter used in a 2022 burglary of $33,000 in goods from an Orland Square Mall department store helped lead police to the culprits, police said Friday.

On Oct. 21, 2022 at 10:30 a.m., Orland Park police were called to a burglary at Von Maur, 4 Orland Square Drive. Two suspects, seen wearing black clothing, gloves and masks, entered the store, one holding a baseball bat and the other a pair of bolt cutters. The two smashed display cases filled with high-value purses, then fleeing in a vehicle reported stolen out of Chicago. They left behind the bolt cutters and baseball bat, which police then swabbed for DNA then entered into the State of Illinois Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

In late 2023, Orland police received Illinois State Police Lab Reports which identified two subjects' DNA on the bolt cutter. Clifford Fields, 32, and Jerrod Brim, 29, both of Chicago were matches, police said. Both men had prior arrests for similar offenses.

Investigators learned that Brim was scheduled to appear in court on January 8 on an unrelated theft case. Investigators located and took Brim into custody following his court case at 2600 California. Brim was charged with one count of commercial burglary.

On January 17, Fields turned himself in to the Orland Park Police Department, and was also charged with commercial burglary.