Chicago — Prosecutors this week charged a man with stealing an ATM from a cellular store during the May 2020 riots and looting that swept through Chicago after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, some people accused of committing looting-related crimes in a more timely fashion have reached plea deals.
For example, Lee Mitchell, 30, was accused of raiding seven stores in the Gold Coast and Clybourn corridor during a second round of looting that hit the city in August 2020.
Mitchell, who was released on parole less than two weeks before the August 10 crime wave, was accused of looting from IWC Schaffhausen, a luxury watch store at 11 East Walton, and two businesses next door.
Prosecutors said he also broke into a Verizon location, a Walgreens, and a luxury eyewear store.
Police said a unique tattoo on Mitchell’s bicep allowed them to identify him from surveillance video of the crimes.
Mitchell pleaded guilty to five counts of burglary and five counts of looting by an individual in October. Judge Kenneth Wadas sentenced him to four years for each burglary and three years for each looting, according to court records.
But Wadas ordered the sentences to be served concurrently, resulting in an effective four-year sentence. State officials cut that in half for good behavior, and Mitchell received credit for time spent in custody while the case was pending.
In the end, Mitchell was released from Stateville Correctional Center on October 14, the same day he arrived.
On that same night of looting, Chicago police allegedly saw Demisck Lomax, 28, holding a brick next to a window at the Burberry store, 633 North Michigan. They allegedly watched as he threw the brick into the store’s window, and officers moved in.
When a sergeant approached Lomax, he allegedly threw a brick at the officer, striking him in the hand. Police chased Lomax down Ontario Street and arrested him. Prosecutors initially charged Lomax with aggravated battery of a police officer. They said they planned to charge Lomax with looting, but no looting charges were ever filed, according to court records.
Last May, while Lomax was on bond for the case, prosecutors charged him with manufacture-delivery of fentanyl, CPD records show.
Lomax pleaded guilty to the aggravated battery charge in November and received a four-year sentence from Judge Earl Hoffenberg. He also pleaded guilty in the narcotics case, receiving a two-year consecutive sentence.
His prison term will be cut in half for good behavior, and his release date is scheduled for November 7, 2025.
