A North Side woman with 12 shoplifting convictions in her background shoplifted 18 more times in Chicago while on bail for a pending shoplifting case, prosecutors alleged Friday. Ingrid Campos, 43, told police she targeted TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores “because her belief was they had no security and a no-chase policy,” Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Burke said.
Campos allegedly shoplifted from the chains’ stores 18 times between February 28 and July 7, then sold the stolen merchandise for half the price in nearby alleys and at a salon.
Burke detailed five of the 18 shoplifting cases during Campos’ bail hearing. He said in each incident, she took handbags, clothing, athletic shoes, beauty products, and other items.
On June 24, she allegedly stole goods worth $1,099.65 from the TJ Maxx at 6456 West Irving Park. Burke said two of the other raids netted products worth more than $900 each. All of the alleged thefts were recorded by store surveillance cameras, and loss prevention agents witnessed some of them, according to Burke. Apparently, though, they didn’t chase Campos.
Chicago police began working with corporate security from the stores’ parent companies on June 14, and Burke was identified as a suspect by a loss prevention agent who spotted her in a collection of publicly available mugshots, according to Burke.
On July 7, CPD detectives followed Campos out of the Marshalls at 4612 West Irving Park Road and watched as she sold freshly-stolen merchandise hand-to-hand in a nearby alley, Burke said. Those sales were also captured on video, according to Burke.
After police arrested Campos at her Albany Park home on Thursday, she told investigators that “she has a drug problem and that’s why she steals all the time,” Burke said.
Campos was charged with five felony counts of retail theft and five felony counts of operating a continuing financial crime enterprise. The second charge incorporates the other 13 thefts, Burke said. According to court records, Campos was wanted for failing to appear in court for a pending misdemeanor retail theft charge.
Judge Barbara Dawkins ordered her to pay a $300 deposit toward bail to get out of jail. Dawkins said that Campos must pay an extra $100 deposit because she broke the rules of bail in her pending case and another $1,000 for an outstanding warrant.
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