Crackdown on stolen cellphones targets scores of businesses

Dozens of Chicago businesses have been slapped with hefty fines and cease-and-desist orders for violating an ordinance triggered by a robbery that targeted Mayor Rahm Emanuel's son - aimed at drying up the black market for stolen cellphones.

The city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection has investigated 331 businesses that sell cellphones and found that 143 of them - 43 percent - were not in compliance with the ordinance that took effect on Oct. 23.

Forty-six of those businesses were operating without the required second-hand dealers license and ordered to stop selling cellphones.

Another 178 businesses were slapped with citations, while 148 received "notices to correct" violations for: improper city license; failure to maintain the required inventory book; neglecting to put the required tracking stickers on cellphones and failing to comply with receipt requirements.

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