Less than a week after Kahdaffie Green got out of prison in January, he and three other men robbed the Prada store on Oak Street of $46,000 worth of merchandise, prosecutors said. Cops arrested Green to face charges in the case this week.
Green, 23, was in prison for stolen motor vehicle cases and, oddly enough, prosecutors charged him with criminal trespass to another stolen motor vehicle the day after the Prada heist. But they dropped those charges earlier this month, court records show.
Prosecutors said that around 2:30 p.m. on January 12, a security guard opened the door to let Green enter Prada, 30 East Oak. Green then blocked the guard’s path and allowed three accomplices to enter behind him, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Leonore Carlson.
She said that Green attacked the guard with one of the accomplices while the other two gathered purses and other merchandise from the displays. At one point, the robbers rammed the guard with a clothing rack, which caused him to fall to the ground and injure his wrist.
The thieves escaped in two stolen cars that were waiting outside.
The investigation
Chicago police detectives who tracked the vehicles’ movements before and after the robbery found footage of Green at a convenience store in North Center about 30 minutes before the Prada raid, Carlson said. He was wearing the same distinctive clothing as the Prada offender, but he didn’t have a mask on at the 7-Eleven, she said. Green allegedly identified himself in surveillance images from the convenience store.
Investigators also found surveillance footage that allegedly showed Green and his accomplices arriving at an apartment building in the Riverdale neighborhood 50 minutes after the robbery. They are seen removing the Prada merchandise from the two stolen cars and entering a nearby building, Carlson alleged.
Prosecutors charged him with felony robbery and aggravated battery.
Assistant Public Defender Max Suchan said Green has a four-year-old daughter.
Judge Maryam Ahmad set Green’s bail at $460,000, meaning he must post $46,000 to get out of jail. Ahmad said that’s equal to the value of the merchandise that the crew allegedly stole from Prada.
On January 13, the day after the Prada incident, prosecutors charged Green with criminal trespass to a vehicle. Cops arrested Green after he and three others bailed out of a car stolen two days earlier on the 700 block of West Maxwell, prosecutors said during a bail hearing on January 14.
But Illinois Department of Corrections did not revoke Green’s parole due to the arrest, and prosecutors dropped the case on February 4, according to court records.
Arrests made, crimes continue
Green’s arrest is the latest success story for CPD’s newly-formed organized retail theft task force. Among recent arrests attributed to the task force:
Carlos Valliant, 38, is charged with acting as a lookout while another man used a hammer to smash a display case and steal $862,500 worth of designer watches from Gold Coast Exotic Motor Cars, 834 North Rush. The accomplice remains at large.
Jerome Williams and Semaj Bryant are charged with stealing over $20,000 worth of merchandise during raids on North Face and Sephora stores. Prosecutors said the men sold the stolen merchandise on a table inside a Subway restaurant on the South Side.
Tacarre Harper, 27, is accused of leading a group of late-night burglars who broke into Burberry’s flagship store twice on the Magnificent Mile last month. Harper and his team are also responsible for “dozens” of burglaries at liquor stores and retailers across the city and suburbs, CPD Supt. David Brown said.