An 11-time convicted felon who had been dodging a mail theft-related court case is back behind bars after a Chicago cop allegedly saw him walking out of a Northwest Side apartment building with a bundle of stolen mail. The officer arrested Nicholas Holmes, 34, after a brief foot chase that ended when Holmes tripped and fell, sending the bundle of mail tumbling to the ground, according to a CPD report.
The report said the officer was on routine patrol when they saw Holmes exiting a residential complex in the 6500 block of North Nashville Avenue and recognized him from previous incidents. The report said the cop tried to stop Holmes, but Holmes ran — briefly. After falling, Holmes allegedly lost control of a bundle of mail, all addressed to residents of the same building the cop saw him leaving moments earlier.
Aside from the mail, police said they found two pairs of pliers, a pair of scissors, four fraudulent ID cards, and three credit cards bearing the names of three different people on Holmes.
He has been charged with three counts of burglary, fraudulent possession of an ID card, possession of burglary tools, resisting a police officer, and two counts of possessing a controlled substance.
Holmes had been AWOL from a separate case that also began with suspected mail theft. In May of last year, Park Ridge police arrested Holmes and another man during a traffic stop after officers allegedly found stolen mail and burglary tools in their vehicle. Court filings indicate Holmes had an altered Illinois driver’s license on him, along with a bag of suspected methamphetamine concealed under his genitals.
Prosecutors in that case pursued charges of methamphetamine possession and possession of fraudulent identification cards. But Holmes stopped showing up for court in December, and Judge Lorraine Murphy issued a warrant for his arrest on January 2, court records show. He is currently detained by order of Judge Antara Rivera.
His previous felony convictions, according to court records, include four burglaries in 2021, theft in 2021, burglary in 2020, delivery of meth in 2024, theft in 2024, burglary in 2024, bringing a controlled substance into a penal institution in 2024, and possessing a fraudulent ID in 2024.
