Thief gets 9 years for scamming Elmhurst gas station

A Cook County man was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison for stealing from an Elmhurst gas station by posing as a friend of the owner and persuading a clerk to give him $150.

John Loresch, 42, pleaded guilty to a felony theft charge and was sentenced in a plea bargain approved by DuPage Judge Kathryn Creswell.

Prosecutors said Loresch, of Melrose Park, walked into a Clark gas station on the 100 block of North Addison Street in Elmhurst on Feb. 27, 2009, and told the clerk that he was a friend of the owner. He then explained his wife had been in a car crash, and he needed to borrow $150 for a tow truck, prosecutors said.

The clerk handed over money from the cash register after Loresch pretended to call the gas station owner and have a conversation with him. As he left, prosecutors said, Loresch gave the clerk an IOU note for the money.

Assistant State's Attorney Romas Mockaitis said Loresch later told authorities he had carried out about 40 similarly styled thefts at gas stations, gyms and other businesses in the Elmhurst and Lombard areas over the previous four months.

Mockaitis said each of the scams involved Loresch using a business owner's name and the story about his wife being in a car accident.

Loresch faced six to 30 years in prison because of prior theft convictions. He did not speak in court Tuesday, other than to request drug treatment when he gets to prison.