A six-time convicted felon has been arrested for at least the 66th time in his adult life, charged with stealing packages from a Lincoln Park apartment building. He’s also on pretrial release for allegedly stealing packages from the same building last fall while he was on parole for stealing packages in Lakeview.
Errick Shambley, 55, now has two felony burglary cases pending.
Last September, officials said Shambley stole packages belonging to two residents of a building in the 2900 block of North Halsted. Chicago cops arrested him about two months after the burglary when the building’s property manager saw Shambley at a nearby Starbucks and flagged down a passing patrol car. Records show Shambley has been charged with stealing packages in the 2900 block of North Halsted at least three other times since 2018.
After his arrest in September, the state revoked his parole (also for stealing packages during a burglary), and he returned to the Stateville Correctional Center. He was back on the street within weeks because his previous prison sentence expired.
Earlier this month, the same building manager who flagged down a patrol car to have Shambley arrested in September called 911 to report that Shambley was breaking into the same apartment building in the 2900 block of North Halsted, a CPD report says.
The cops arrested Shambley nearby and charged him with a January 20 break-in at the building. He allegedly stole a package from the mailroom containing a bottle of alcohol-free gin.
Judge Ankur Srivastava detained Shambley for violating the pretrial release conditions in the September case. Shambley will be in jail until at least early March, when he is due in court again.
His most recent prison sentence was for burglarizing a building in the 3300 block of North Ashland. Prosecutors said he posed as an Amazon worker and rang the building’s buzzers until someone let him in.
Police arrested Shambley in 2019 after identifying him as the burglar responsible for package thefts from the 2900 block of North Racine and the 1100 block of West Wolfram during Christmas 2018. Police also accused him of stealing three packages from a building in the 2900 block of North Halsted (Surprise!) the previous summer.
Shambley received a 60-day jail sentence in September 2018 for stealing packages from the 2900 block of Halsted (!) and the 3700 block of North Bosworth. That year, he also received probation for stealing a package from the 800 block of West Buckingham.
His previous prison sentences include a pair of 2-year sentences for theft in 2016, 3 years for burglary in 2007, one year for narcotics in 2005, and three years for manufacture-delivery of a controlled substance in 1994.
