Woman Defrauds Store of $10,000 In Gift Card Scheme, Police Say

Lynn Bland, 28, of North Kilpatrick Avenue, Chicago was charged with a Class 4 felony charged of retail theft Dec. 22 after police responded to a store in the 8500 block of Golf Road, where a security agent pointed out Bland in her car. Police stopped her, and store security agents said she had made 18 fraudulent returns, totaling $10,833 between Nov. 29 and Dec. 22, according to the police report.

The store issued her the returns in the form of gift cards, which Bland then used to purchase phone cards, police said. Store security provided police with video and receipts from the 18 transactions, police indicated.

Her court date is Feb. 6 in the Skokie branch of the Cook County courts. 

Two Teen Sisters Steal $6,300 Worth of Goods, Police Say

Josefina Vega, 18, and her 16-year-old sister, a juveniles, were charged with Class 3 felony retail theft Dec. 23 at a department store at Golf Mill Shopping Center. A store security guard said he observed both on video and in person as the two sisters walked around the store selecting merchandise and putting it into bags, then going to fitting rooms and removing tags, according to the police report. They then put the items into two shopping carts and left the store with them, the report indicated.  

The store security guard stopped them. Police advised their mother they would be taken into custody; the juvenile said she was still wearing 16 belts belonging to the store, police said. 

The total value of the recovered merchandise for Josefina Vega was $3,722.72 and for her juvenile sister was $2,564.83, police said. Their court date was not available at the time of the report. 

Get Niles and Morton Grove news in a daily email from Patch. It's like getting a free newspaper.

Like Niles-Morton Grove Patch on Facebook