A Chicago woman is facing robbery charges, accused of working with an unidentified accomplice to rob an 89-year-old man on the Blue Line last month. Laura Garcia, 38, was ordered detained by Judge Robert Kuzas following her court appearance, but her alleged accomplice remains at large.
Prosecutors said Garcia and her male accomplice were riding the Blue Line around 8:25 a.m. on February 14, walking the aisle and asking passengers for money, claiming it was the accomplice’s birthday. At one point, Garcia sat across from the 89-year-old victim while the accomplice took a seat directly behind him, according to a detention petition.
When the victim exited at the Division, Garcia and her partner followed him onto the platform. The accomplice came up behind the victim and said, “Give me something,” then reached into his pockets, first removing napkins before pulling a wallet from his rear pocket, the petition said. The victim struck the accomplice twice with his cane, and the man fled down the stairs to where Garcia was allegedly waiting.
Prosecutors said the two walked back to the platform together, where the accomplice handed the wallet to Garcia, who searched it and returned it to him. Garcia then boarded the Blue Line and the accomplice left on foot.
Detectives released a public bulletin last month containing two CTA surveillance images of the accomplice. But they also distributed an internal message to other officers that included additional photos of the female suspect. An officer recognized Garcia from those images because they had arrested her at the Monroe Blue Line station on two outstanding warrants just ten days before the robbery. A sergeant who supervised the female lockup that day also identified her. The robbery victim later identified Garcia in a photo lineup, prosecutors said.
Garcia was recently arrested when she approached a CPD public transport unit in the Loop and the officers recognized her from the bulletin, according to a police report.
In addition to the robbery charge, Garcia had two outstanding warrants at the time of her arrest, the CPD report said. Court records show dozens of cases filed against her since 2006, the majority of them misdemeanors. Her felony convictions include a 2010 DUI, a 2013 aggravated battery causing great bodily harm to a peace officer, a 2024 narcotics conviction, and two 2025 cases — possession of a stolen motor vehicle and burglary — for which she is currently serving mental health probation.
Her accomplice has not been identified or charged.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
