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| Edwin Herrera and a Maserati similar to the one he is accused of stealing. | CPD; Maserati |
A man who’s on parole for stealing an ambulance and leading police on a two-state car chase in 2014 is now charged with stealing a $100,000 Maserati in the Loop over the weekend.
Edwin Herrera, 38, stole the silver sports car after it was left running in front of an apartment building in the first block of East 9th Street around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, prosecutors said. Unbeknownst to Herrera, the owner’s phone was still inside the sports car and the victim’s friends began tracking the vehicle as he drove it around town, according to a police report.
They saw Herrera stop for gas in Little Italy and watched as he sped away before police arrived, according to a police report. They caught up with the car again a few minutes later, only to lose it again.
Police say Herrera eventually abandoned the vehicle in the 100 block of West Taylor, not far from where he stole it an hour earlier. Herrera gathered items from the car, including the victim’s phone, and started walking. Cops—still following the phone’s pings—arrested Herrera around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday on the first block of West 9th Street. The Maserati owner’s phone and ID were found about 25 feet away, police said. Witnesses identified Herrera as the man who was seen driving the car after it was stolen, according to court records.
He has been charged with receiving-possessing a stolen motor vehicle and theft of lost or mislaid property. Judge David Navarro ordered him held without bail.
Herrera was paroled in March after serving half of an eight-year sentence that he received for stealing a Dodge ambulance in northwest Indiana in 2014. On March 8th of that year, Chicago police became involved in a police chase as Indiana cops chased the stolen ambulance into the city limits.
The ambulance driver had left the rig running while he picked up a patient from a medical center in Gary, according to a spokesperson for Prompt Ambulance. Herrera stole it. Indiana authorities followed the ambulance’s GPS tracker to locate the vehicle and then chase it through much of Lake County before entering Chicago’s South Side. Herrera eventually stopped the ambulance and surrendered to police.
Chicago police said Herrera told them, “I was walking and took the ambulance to get a ride home.” At the time of the ambulance theft, Herrera was on parole in Indiana for vehicle theft.
According to Illinois state records, Herrera has been sent to prison repeatedly since 1999:
• Six years for aiding or abetting the possession of a stolen motor vehicle in 2009
• Six years for aiding or abetting the possession of a stolen motor vehicle in 2006
• Three years for aggravated battery of a police or fireman in 2001
• Four years for receiving-possessing a stolen motor vehicle in 2001
• Another four years for receiving-possessing a stolen motor vehicle in 2001
• Five years for aggravated battery in a public place in 1999
