Women Charged With Felony Theft After Hiding Items, Police Say

Mia S. Morrison, 43, of West Adams Street, Chicago, and Tamika Spann, of Melvina Street, Chicago, were charged with Class 3 felony retail theft Dec. 17 after security agents at a Golf Mill Shopping Center store observed them trying to remove merchandise without paying for it, police said.

Security agents saw the women select merchandise and place it in their shopping cart, then transfer the items into another piece of merchandise, which was a garbage can packaged in a cardboard box, according to the report.

Spann went out to a 2008 Jeep in the parking lot, according to the report, and placed a gray and green hoodie, which she had concealed in her purse, into the passenger compartment. Then she returned to the store to try to find her cell phone, which had been found by a store employee. Police said Morrison paid for the garbage can without paying for the items hidden inside, and once Spann had her cell phone back, the two of them left the store together. The security agent confronted them, and Spann fled into the parking lot, according to the report, where a Niles police officer took her into custody. Morrison cooperated with the security agent. 

Police took both women to the police department and had the Jeep towed and impounded. A Cook County Assistant State's Attorney approved a felony charge. 

Both women have a court date today, Dec. 26, in the Skokie branch of the Cook County court. 

Information is taken from Niles Police Department reports.