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| Montera Carr is accused of stealing nearly $2500 from a donation checkpoint. | CPD; Northalsted.com |
A donation checkpoint worker at last weekend’s Northalsted Market Days was arrested after security guards saw her stuffing admission fee cash into her pants, bra, and waistband, prosecutors said.
Montera Carr had $2,490 in cash hidden on her body when festival security guards confronted her, according to court files. Carr began working the donation checkpoint at Halsted and Addison at 10 a.m. on Saturday. By 3 p.m., a security guard saw her “pocketing cash” and also saw a “wad of cash” in her pants, according to court records.
Festival workers took Carr to a security station where a guard asked, “how much did you take?” “I don’t know,” she allegedly replied. Guards recovered nearly $2,500 from her clothing, including her bra and waistband, according to charges. Police continue to investigate the theft.
The 21-year-old from Englewood is charged with felony theft. Judge David Navarro set her bail at $2,500.
Every dollar donated is of increasing importance to the sponsor of Market Days, the Northalsted Business Alliance. According to the group’s 2016 tax filing (the most recent available), the two-day Market Days festival that year netted the group just $10,942 on gross revenue of $889,000. In 2014, the annual festival along Boystown’s Halsted Street netted the group significantly more: $175,000 on revenue of $812,000, tax records show. Online copies of the alliance’s 2015 tax return do not include IRS Schedule G, where festival revenues are reported.
A police department source said this year’s Market Days attendance was about 5% higher than 2017’s event.
Five people were arrested during Market Days operating hours this year, three for battery and two for theft, according to police records. There were two arrests during festival hours in 2017, both for battery, police said.
