Two Chicago residents are facing felony retail theft charges after Cook County sheriff’s police said they stole more than $2,200 worth of merchandise from a Lululemon store in the West Loop before crashing their getaway vehicle on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
According to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, the theft occurred around 10:25 a.m. on June 3 at the 932 West Randolph Street location.
Investigators said a man and a woman entered the store, where the man removed a tote bag from inside his pants. The pair then filled the bag with merchandise and left the store without paying before driving away in a white Volkswagen Tiguan, according to the sheriff’s office. Lululemon employees contacted the Sheriff’s Police Organized Retail Crime Unit and provided officers with information about the vehicle, including its license plate number.
Officers located the Volkswagen and followed it from a distance as it traveled onto the Dan Ryan Expressway. The driver allegedly accelerated and began changing lanes recklessly before colliding with a box truck. Sheriff’s police responded to the crash scene, offered medical assistance to the vehicle’s occupants, who declined treatment, and then arrested the couple.
The pair was identified as 46-year-old Phillip Todd and 30-year-old Jazmine Nooner. The sheriff’s office said its officers recovered the stolen Lululemon merchandise from inside the crashed Volkswagen. Todd and Nooner were each charged with felony retail theft and released pending trial.
