People will steal anything if it’s not nailed down, the old saying goes. Even a truck full of dry cleaning, apparently.
Two men are now facing felony charges for allegedly speeding away with a truckload of laundry after its driver left the vehicle running in Streeterville.
The driver left the truck in the driveway of a building in the 200 block of East Pearson while he ran inside around 10:15 a.m. last Friday. Unfortunately, he left the key fob in the vehicle.
It didn’t take long before Nicholas Soto, 31, and Alejandro Aguirre, 21, decided to hop inside and drive it away, according to prosecutors.
After hearing witnesses describe the suspects, cops had a pretty good idea of who they were. Officers met with Soto and Aguirre a few minutes before the theft about a disturbance in nearby Lakeshore Park, according to a CPD report.
The van, which was emblazoned with the dry cleaning company’s name, quickly made its way toward Wicker Park. Cops were able to track it down because it had a GPS tracker installed, prosecutors said.
Officers pulled the van over in the 1900 block of North Milwaukee about 20 minutes after it went missing. They said Soto was driving and Aguirre was in the passenger seat.
Prosecutors said Soto admitted to taking the van after seeing it unattended.
Both men are now charged with possessing a stolen motor vehicle.
Judge Charles Beach set bail for Soto at $20,000 and ordered him to go onto electronic monitoring if he posts a 10% deposit bond. Beach released Aguirre on his own recognizance.
