A Chicago man is warning others after his wife became a victim of pickpocketing in the city's Streeterville neighborhood, with thieves racking up more than $10,000 in fraudulent charges.
According to police, a trio of individuals is suspected in the incident and they may be connected to a larger ring.
While giving the appearance of professionals going out downtown for happy hour, police said the woman and two men seen on surveillance video had nefarious intent.
“I figured they’re working as a team and then last night I’m cooking dinner and I see your exposé and I immediately knew, holy cow, that’s them and they’re still doing it,” Chicago resident Kyle Marden said.
Marden was watching NBC 5 News Tuesday evening when he recognized the suspects and said they targeted his wife at Nora Restaurant in Streeterville more than a month ago.
“It was wild watching the video actually happen, they’re very good at what they do,” Marden said. “It was right next to her chair and they were in the corner and they got to it.”
Marden’s wife told him the woman backed up into her chair, but she didn’t think anything of it at the time. It was only a short time later when she reached for her backpack to pay for her bill that she noticed her wallet was missing.
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“You see in the video they unzipped it, they pulled her shoes out, take the wallet and handed it over and actually put her shoes back in and zipped it back up and put it on the back of the chair,” he said. “They were in business coats, you notice the one gentleman who actually does the theft takes his business coat off, comes back in and when he takes it out of the bag, he puts his business coat over and they immediately walk out.”
The victim’s husband said the thieves used her stolen credit cards at Target, Nordstrom, and Banana Republic within 20 minutes.
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“They got five figures worth of credit card charges of my wife’s credit cards, times that by 23, I think that breaks the grand larceny law,” he said. “Hopefully when they catch them, they put them away.”
Chicago police issued a community alert saying that the thieves struck at least 23 times in June and in early July. They would enter bars, restaurants, and hotels in the Central Business District during the afternoon and early evening hours going after purses, wallets and bags of unsuspecting victims.
“It’s very clear the police are dealing with major crimes, these minor crimes do impact normal people. They happen on a daily basis and hopefully it stops,” Marden said.
“This is the best city in America, but we need help with the crime and it has to stop.”
Chicago police are advising the public to be aware of crimes such as these and to secure valuables when going out.
Those with any information regarding the suspects are asked to call Area Three detectives at 312-744-8263.
