CHICAGO — Prosecutors this week charged a man with participating in the January 2022 robbery of the Prada store in downtown Chicago, a crime for which two other men have already gone to prison. Officials said the crew got away with merchandise worth $46,000.
Leonard Spears, 27, is charged with one count of robbery in connection with the January 12, 2022, shoplifting mob raid at the store, 30 East Oak. Court records show he was sentenced to a year in prison for a felony gun case just four months before the robbery.
Kahdaffie Green, 24, had been out of prison for less than a week when he participated in the Prada heist. He received a 42-month sentence for the crime earlier this year and was paroled in July.
Tony Simmons, 21, recently received a five-year sentence for robbing the Prada store and participating in similar crimes. He is scheduled to be paroled next July. He was on parole for a juvenile armed robbery case at the time of the Prada robbery, according to officials.
Prosecutors said the men rolled up to the Prada store in two stolen cars around 2:30 p.m. A security guard allowed Green to enter, and the others barged in behind him. They pushed a security guard against the wall and ran out with armloads of purses, prosecutors have said. The crew rammed a clothing rack into the security officer as they escaped. He fell to the floor and injured his wrist.
Chicago police detectives tracked the stolen vehicles’ movements before and after the robbery, eventually locating video of Green at a convenience store in North Center about 30 minutes before the Prada heist, prosecutors said.
Investigators also found surveillance footage that allegedly showed the group arriving at an apartment complex in the Riverdale neighborhood 50 minutes after the robbery. They were seen removing the Prada merchandise from the cars and entering a nearby building.
Judge Susana Ortiz this week ordered Spears to pay a $2,500 bail deposit to get out of jail on the robbery charge.