A 31-year-old Justice man is facing 12 felony charges in connection to the theft of retail goods with a value totaling over $800,000, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Thursday.
Mahdi Alhaw faces eight counts of non-probationable Class 1 felony theft and four counts of probationable Class 1 felony theft. Each count is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, according to Raoul's office.
Additionally, Alhaw faces unrelated charges from the Cook County State's Attorney's office regarding alleged vehicle theft and gun crimes.
The charges come nearly a year after hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen retail goods were discovered inside numerous storage units across the city of Chicago.
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The storage units contained electronics, clothing, cosmetics, pet supplies, mattresses and other merchandise. The investigation was conducted by Raoul's Organized Retail Crime Task Force, with the BNSF Railway Police assisting in the efforts.
“These charges should serve as a warning that my office and our partners in the Organized Retail Crime Task Force will aggressively pursue these offenders and hold them accountable," Raoul said in a statement Thursday.
Alhaw's bond has been set at $25,000 and is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 30, 2023.
