CHICAGO — A UPS driver is accused of stealing two Louis Vuitton shipments worth more than $50,000 from the company’s shipment center near downtown Chicago, according to a CPD arrest report.
If that scenario sounds familiar, it’s because another UPS driver working out of the same facility was charged last year with stealing more Louis Vuitton shipments worth $187,000.
In the new case, UPS security agents began investigating after a package containing $17,585 worth of Louis Vuitton goods was not delivered as scheduled on July 15, the report said.
A week later, on July 22, the company’s security team working in the warehouse at 1400 South Jefferson saw a driver take Louis Vuitton packages from carts that weren’t assigned to him, according to police.
They stopped the driver after he put the packages worth $32,640 on his truck and prepared to start his route.
Police were called to the warehouse to take the driver, Erick Carbajal, 28, into custody on Saturday morning. The UPS agents told the police that Carbajal admitted to taking the packages on both days.
He’s charged with felony theft of $10,000 to $100,000 and attempted theft of $10,000 to $100,000. Judge Maryam Ahmad required him to pay a $200 bail deposit to get out of jail.
Déjà lu
Last April, prosecutors charged another UPS driver with delivering packages containing $187,000 worth of Louis Vuitton to his home.
Officials said Pedro Caudillo, 27, loaded boxes of the luxury designer’s shipments that were not assigned his route onto his truck at the UPS warehouse on Jefferson. Then he allegedly delivered the merchandise to his house.
UPS called the Chicago Police Department’s organized retail crime task force to tackle that investigation. The company reported several Louis Vuitton boxes had gone missing since mid-April 2022.
Late that month, a witness allegedly saw Caudillo load three Louis Vuitton boxes onto his truck that were supposed to go on other routes, prosecutors said. Those shipments alone were worth $35,000.
Police arrested him when he returned to the warehouse after delivering the goods to his home, prosecutors said. After his arrest, police searched his house and found the three boxes he had earlier in the day along with Louis Vuitton merchandise worth $100,000, according to the allegations.
Prosecutors said he admitted to delivering between 10 and 15 boxes of the designer’s products to his home, intending to sell them on social media.
Claudillo’s case is still pending. Court records indicate the parties may be getting close to reaching a plea agreement.