2 charged with fleeing police in retail theft cases in DuPage County
Two people are being detained pretrial in DuPage County on charges that they fled from police investigating thefts from stores.
Jehnyejah Moore, 22, of the 7300 block of Woodward Avenue in Woodridge, is charged with felony retail theft and felony aggravated fleeing and eluding a police officer, according to a news release from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
She is accused of stealing items from the Nordstrom store at Oakbrook Center mall in Oak Brook around 2:07 p.m. Tuesday. The charges state she removed anti-theft sensors from several items, including SKIMS undergarments and two T-shirts. She is also accused of stealing a hat and another T-shirt. A store security worker confronted her outside the store and retrieved all but one package of the undergarments.
Oak Brook police on patrol at the mall suspected she was the driver of a white Chevrolet Equinox involved in the incident, and tried to stop it on westbound I-88. The Equinox sped up to about 112 mph, and police stopped chasing. They determined where she lived, went there and waited for her, according to a prosecutor’s petition for pretrial detention.
They then went to Moore’s residence, waited for her to arrive and arrested her there.
Jrlani Williams, 32, of the 4800 block of Drexel Boulevard, Chicago, is charged with felony burglary, felony aggravated fleeing and eluding a police officer and misdemeanor crimes, including retail theft, resisting a peace officer and driving while his license is suspended.
According to the news release, around 5:18 p.m. Tuesday, Elmhurst police went to Kohl’s, 303 S. Route 83, for a report of a theft in progress.
The release said police believe Williams parked a white Jaguar F-Type car in a handicapped accessible parking space. They say he then entered the store, removed the anti-theft sensor from a Ninja blender, and placed it and an electric griddle into a shopping cart and put the cart near the front door.
Meanwhile, police put a tire-deflating stop stick under a tire of the Jaguar and began watching. They believe Williams noticed the detectives and left the store without the items, according to a prosecutor’s petition for detention.
When Williams got in the Jaguar, police told him to stop, but he drove off, according to the news release. The Jaguar was found in a ditch near York and Butterfield roads, and Williams was found hiding amid some trees, according to the news release.
The misdemeanor retail theft charge states he stole a wooden pedestal from an At Home store in Elmhurst. According to the petition for pretrial detention, Williams is accused of removing a security sensor from it and persuading a worker to sell the $79.99 item to him for $17.99.
“These two incidents underscore a clear message: the eastern edge of this county is not the place to commit a crime,” Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis said in the news release. “The technology, coordination, and investigative tactics used to bring these offenders to justice were truly exceptional.”