'These crimes are not random': Lawmakers targeting crime rings behind smash-and-grab robberies
Participating in a crime ring that steals from stores - like the smash-and-grab robberies we've seen at area malls over the past year - could soon be a felony, under a bipartisan proposal touted this week by suburban lawmakers.
The measure, part of a Senate amendment to House Bill 1091, would create the offense of "organized retail crime" that could be punishable by up to seven years in prison.
The legislation defines organized retail crime as stealing with the intent to resell items, whether it be by the thieves or by someone else. It also would apply to someone who organizes such an effort.
"Make no mistake, these crimes are not random," state Sen. John Curran, a Republican from Downers Grove, said at a news conference Tuesday introducing the legislation.
Curran described retail theft rings as sophisticated enterprises in which the thieves are often low-ranking members of criminal organizations. Law enforcement officials believe organized retail crime often is perpetrated by the same groups that are trafficking drugs and humans.
"Law enforcement will not only be able to attack first-line perpetrators, but everyone throughout the chain," Curran said of the proposal.
The measure also calls for stricter regulations of online third-party marketplaces - examples include Amazon Marketplace and eBay - where criminals often sell the stolen goods. Marketplaces would be required to verify "high-volume sellers" - those who have 200 or more transactions or gross $5,000 or more in sales in a 12-month period - and collect information about them, including their bank or payment account numbers, names, email and physical addresses, taxpayer identification numbers and telephone numbers.
The marketplaces also would have to prominently display a mechanism for people to report suspicious activity.
The legislation is attached as an amendment to House Bill 1091, known as the "Fix the FOID Act," which makes changes to the firearm owners identification card law. The Senate could vote as early as today. The House would then have to vote on the amended bill before it heads to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The General Assembly has until April 8, the last day of the legislative session.
State Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton, a Democrat from Western Springs, introduced the bill this week. Her district includes Oakbrook Center mall, where 14 thieves took part in the smash-and-grab robbery of a Louis Vuitton store in November.
"Retail theft is not a victimless crime," Glowiak said. "People come in to smash and grab and they scare the employees, (and) the folks who are there patronizing the store. People fear for their lives at that point."
"I've never seen anything like these brazen attacks on our stores," she added.
As for the proposed legislation, "It is not the intent to prosecute two high school girls that go into a drugstore and steal a lipstick," she said.
Help for Ukraine
More suburban police departments are joining the effort to help the people of Ukraine defend themselves against Russia's invasion.
The latest is Lake Zurich, which this week donated 11 bulletproof vests along with numerous vest panels and carriers to Ukraine.
"We hope our ballistic vests will help protect the Ukrainian people who are trying to defend their country," Chief Steve Husak said. "We hope our vests will save lives. Saving lives is always a worthy cause."
The donation is part of a statewide initiative we wrote about last month launched by retired Mokena police chief Steven Vaccaro and the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.
Vaccaro's sister, Jennifer Doloski, has adopted three children from the beleaguered Eastern European nation. She's also seeking donations to cover shipping costs. Donations can be made to Reece's Rainbow Special Needs Adoption Support, a 501c(3)-registered nonprofit organization, at www.reecesrainbow.org.
What's the word
A St. Charles-area man who sent himself nude pictures from a female customer's phone when he worked at a Huntley cellphone store saw his conviction reduced this week by a state appeals court that disagreed with a county judge's definition of a single word.
Justin Devine was arrested in 2018 after authorities said the victim brought her phone to the store where he worked to have her service transferred to another carrier. After Devine handled the phone, the woman saw a text message had been sent to a phone number she did not recognize. Five photographs of her genitalia, which she had taken several days prior, were attached to the message.
Authorities say the text was sent to Devine's phone.
In January 2021, Kane County Judge David Kliment ruled Devine guilty of nonconsensual dissemination of sexual images and sentenced him to 18 months of probation and a suspended 180-day jail term.
But in a unanimous ruling handed down Monday, the appeals court threw out the conviction and said Devine is instead guilty of the lesser offense of disorderly conduct.
The ruling hinges on the word "dissemination." The court ruled that under both the dictionary definition of dissemination - to "foster general knowledge of" or "make widely known" - and a civil law definition, which involves one person sending something to another, Devine didn't disseminate the images.
Based on the finding, the appellate court sent the case back to Kliment for resentencing.
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