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| Lewis (inset) is accused of pulling off a so-called “flyer boy robbery” near Millenium Park. |
For over a year, Chicago cops have been warning people about teams of thieves who are stealing phones from occupied cars that are stopped at traffic lights in the Loop and Mag Mile area.
Now, CWBChicago can report an arrest in a related case. Interestingly, the accused man was also suspected of attempting an identical crime last winter, but charges were dropped when a key witness failed to show up in court.
Here’s what we’ve learned:
Around 4:15 p.m. on August 22, cops were flagged down near Millennium Park by a 42-year-old Highland, IN, man who said that two men reached into his car and snatched his phone while he was turning westbound onto Randolph Street at Michigan Avenue.
Officers soon found 18-year-old Terrell Lewis running into the pedway at Randolph and Wabash. After a winding chase, police caught up with him again on the first floor of Macy’s, police said. Lewis threw one phone into the street as cops approached and then threw a second phone at an approaching officer, prosecutors said.
Once Lewis was in custody, the driver was able to confirm ownership of one of the phones by entering his passcode and showing photos of himself on the phone, according to police.
Lewis, who lives in south suburban Robbins, is being held without bond.
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| This man was identified as a suspect in similar thefts along Michigan Ave last winter | ABC7 Screengrab |
Remarkably, just one week after ABC7 reported on an outbreak of thefts from occupied cars in the Loop late last year, Lewis was arrested at Madison and Columbus.
An off-duty CPD sergeant reported seeing Lewis and a second man bang on the window of a Toyota and then open the driver’s door and reach inside. The sergeant honked his horn and scared both suspects away before anything was stolen, police said at the time.
Charges of reckless conduct, obstruction of traffic, and soliciting a ride on the roadway were thrown out when a witness failed to appear in court. Lewis, booked under the name Dionte Young, claimed to be 30-years-old.
In January, police said Lewis and his co-arrestee had used Subway restaurant fliers to lure drivers into lowering their windows.
