A woman who said she was passing through Chicago on a road trip from Kansas to Memphis — possibly the worst Google Maps results ever — is facing multiple felony counts after she was allegedly found carrying a gun while opening packages and trying on stolen items in the back of a delivery truck downtown. Later, prosecutors say, the woman threatened to throw feces-covered toilet paper on cops unless they set her free. Her efforts failed.
“I didn’t do anything wrong, your honor,” Hannah Belshe told Judge Charles Beach after he ordered her to stay in Illinois if she can post a $1,500 bail deposit.
“I can’t do that, sir,” the 35-year-old replied. “My father’s on hospice.”
“Ma’am, I understand that,” Beach said. “But that begs a question: Why were you in Chicago and not in Kansas?”
“Because I was going to Memphis for a mini-vacation,” Belshe replied.
“Oh,” the judge answered skeptically. “That makes sense.”
Belshe’s suddenly extended stay in our fair city began around noon Monday when a delivery driver flagged down cops on the 200 block of South Canal and said a woman was in the back of his truck going through packages, according to prosecutors.
Officers who looked inside the truck allegedly saw Belshe opening boxes and wearing sunglasses that she took from one of the parcels. Cops detained Belshe and discovered she was carrying a handgun, too, prosecutors said.
At the police station, Belshe asked to use the bathroom. When she was done, she refused to come out and ordered cops to set her free — unless they wanted to be pelted with her soiled toilet paper, according to prosecutors. Officers pepper-sprayed Belshe after she allegedly ignored repeated commands to drop the TP and come out of the bathroom.
Prosecutors on Tuesday charged her with felony unlawful use of a weapon, felony burglary, and three felony counts of aggravated assault of police officers. Belshe has an “extensive” criminal background in Kansas, prosecutors said, including two pending cases. Her defense attorney said she was traveling through Illinois and suffers from anxiety.
Despite Belshe’s efforts, Judge Beach declined to change her bail conditions.
