MAYWOOD, Ill. — An investigation by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office led to the bust of a large-scale retail theft operation, recovering millions of dollars in suspected stolen merchandise.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced Thursday that approximately $2.4 million in suspected stolen merchandise, along with a handful of guns, was recovered in the bust last week.
The recovered merchandise included special-edition gray Nike Air Jordan shoes made to commemorate this summer’s Paris Olympics that had not even been released to the public yet, as well as designer handbags, fragrances, Lululemon clothes and a few pairs of Nike/Luis Vuitton collaboration shoes valued at $30,000 each.
The Sheriff’s Office says sheriff’s police executed a search warrant at a store in the 2200 block of West Taylor Street on Chicago’s Near West Side. According to authorities, employees of the store purchased stolen items and resold them to customers.
Some of the items were believed to be stolen directly from Chicagoland stores. Dart said other items may have been stolen from trains.
The store owner and an employee have been charged with felony theft. The employee is also facing a gun charge.
Dart explained Thursday how authorities set up the bust.
“This was, as they say, an undercover operation where we were sending people in to sell things that we told them was stolen,” he said. “We would then go back in with a different undercover officer and buy the stolen stuff we had just sold them.
“So we were recovering the stuff that everyone knew was stolen. We were getting tips from the people that operated (the theft operation) — the two people charged — on what they wanted us to steal, and they directed us in that way, as well.”
Dart also said the investigation is still active, and authorities are still working with manufacturers to try to authenticate merchandise.
“This is just part of it,” Dart said.