A Lincoln Park man convicted of felony cyberstalking and residential theft will spend the next eight years behind bars.
Cook County Judge Erica Reddick sentenced Jicheng "Kevin" Liu on Tuesday. Liu faced up to 14 years for his crimes and will get credit for time already served.
Police found close to $1 million of stolen merchandise in Liu's rented Lincoln Park townhome in 2012. He was accused of stealing delivery packages from homes and apartment complexes, and using garage door openers to access goods.
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While Liu may be behind bars, those he victimized say they still fear retribution because of his history of stalking and harassing those who helped bust his lucrative business.
"We fear that no matter where he is, he will haunt us in this world. If he has access to a computer he will tear apart our reputation," said one victim who asked to be identified only as Sherwood.
The man said he's still in the process of putting his life back together after he and his wife marketed Liu's merchandise on eBay four years ago before discovering the goods were stolen and alerting police.
"Jicheng Liu came at us so hard. He managed to get our business shut down on eBay and to this day we cannot use our online store," Sherwood said. "We've been scared. We trusted Liu. He told us keep an eye on your baby while you sleep at night."
Sherwood says he's had to restart his business from scratch, and sell small antiques instead of more lucrative high-end furniture.
Liu's defense attorney, Nick Albukerk, objected to the sentence, saying his client had no criminal history and didn't hurt anyone because the people he stole from could afford it.
"I think my client got more years than what this case was worth," Albukerk said. "The people who walk through these doors have bigger cases than the people in this case."
