Elgin woman charged with East Dundee TV thefts

A 24-year-old Elgin woman, just weeks after pleading guilty to felony retail theft, was arrested by East Dundee Police and charged with burglary and retail theft for two incident in March 2013.

Samantha Marinaro, of the 1300 block of Corley Court, was charged Saturday with burglary and theft from two different instances at Walmart, 620 Dundee Ave., according to police and court records.

East Dundee Police Chief Terry Mee said Marinaro is accused of stealing a flat-screen TV and entertainment center in one incident and two flat-screen TVs in a second incident.

"She basically wheeled them out of the store," Mee said.

However, the case file from the two incidents was lost. An investigator recently found it, interviewed Marinaro and arrested her, Mee said.

"The paperwork got misplaced. Once it was identified as an open case, it was investigated," he said.

Marinaro pleaded guilty in late January to a May 2013 burglary at Menards, 825 S. Randall Road, Elgin.

She served 14 days in jail, was given two years of probation and ordered to pay $2,400 in court costs.

Marinaro also was charged with breaking into a car in Elgin in September 2009, records show. She managed to get the felony charge reduced to a misdemeanor and received 18 months probation and ordered to complete 75 hours of public service.

If convicted on the new charges, Marinaro faces anywhere from probation to seven years in prison.

She was being held at the Kane County jail on $30,000 bail, and is due in court Feb. 26.