Rolling Meadows parolee charged in theft from 81-year-old woman

A Rolling Meadows man with a criminal record has been charged with felony theft by deception in Mount Prospect.

Anthony T. Miller, 26, of the 5500 block of Tinder Drive, was arrested at his home Jan. 28 and will be in court Feb. 17, police said in a news release.

Police gave this account:

Miller stopped an 81-year-old woman as she drove out of a restaurant parking lot at 1702 W. Algonquin Road around 9:30 p.m. Sept. 24. He told her he had washed her car when she purchased it from a dealership in 2013 and he saw there were scratches on the rear driver's-side fender. Before she could reply, he began rubbing the fender with a rag and then told her she owed him $400.

When she said she did not have the money, he said he would take $200 and she could get the money from an ATM. She said she would give him $60. She told police she knew she did not have scratches on the fender and that she had been scammed.

Based on a restaurant video, a police officer obtained a photo, name and address for a suspect, set up a photo lineup, and got a positive ID from the waitress who had served Miller and his wife, who she remembered because he had left his cellphone behind and she had followed him to the parking lot to give it to him.

Miller was in violation of his parole, and his parole officer agreed to notify police when he heard from him.