A 15-year-old is facing nearly two dozen counts of burglary and theft, including a felony charge, after allegedly targeting several Chicago Ulta stores, the city's top cop announced Friday.
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown announced the arrest Friday during a press conference, saying the teen was arrested and charged last week, one of multiple arrests made involving thefts of major chains in the city in recent weeks.
Brown noted the charge against the teen involves an "organized retail theft enterprise" charge, which is a class one felony.
The incidents took place between the months of August and September, according to police.
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Authorities said the teen faces 10 counts of felony retail theft, 10 counts of felony burglary and one felony count of continuing financial crimes enterprise.
Brown noted that in the same week a young adult was also arrested in connection with a string of robberies at North Face and Sephora stores in the city.
Those incidents took place between Dec. 10 and Dec. 21 and involved the theft of more than $10,000 in merchandise.
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"As you recall in the runup to the shopping season we had several smash-and-grabs, several burglaries and the messages to offenders were we're not going to let you get away with it, we are going to bring you into custody and bring you in for the courts to seek justice and this is what we are doing," Brown said. "We are bringing those cases forward and these people did not get away with that."
Brown said that while the teen allegedly worked with a crew of people to commit some of the crimes, the department is also looking into where the stolen items were sold.
"Likely yes, they're not using the makeup that they're stealing, they're fencing it," he said. "So there's a black market for many of these products and yes, we are pursuing that black market as aggressively as we are pursuing the initial offender who takes the product."
Brown noted specifically the age of the 15-year-old charged, saying "people who take things that don't belong to them need to be brought to justice regardless of your age."
