It doesn’t take 20/20 vision to see that this guy has a strange fetish.
A Chicago man is so fond of trying on eye wear that he felt compelled to swipe, at gunpoint, more than $45,000 worth of spectacles from three Milwaukee area stores between April and July.
When he turned himself in, Jerry Lowery, 38, told cops "really likes to be around glasses." The alleged focal fetish felon likes to try on new specs in front of the mirror and discard them once he’s gotten an eyeful.
The store employees at Metro Eye, on North Water Street, said Lowery threatened them with a pistol and said "Just do as I say and I won't hurt you," before demanding they fill his bag not with cash, but eyeglasses.
Lowery even made eye appointments. The lens lifter scheduled a showing at another store, Kind Optical, before snagging Prada and Gucci frames.
The thief was almost nabbed after an attempted heist at Innovative Optique the owner punched Lowery in the face. Lowery escaped police that day – and he may have had to tape together the Kenneth Cole frames he was sporting – but he turned himself in to police the same week.
This isn’t Lowery’s first time stealing glasses. He was paroled in January for a robbery that included stealing glasses and according to an inmate status report on Lowery, he has served nine robbery sentences.
The police report said Lowery became very emotional with investigators and confessed that he’s had the eyeglass fetish for 15 years, during which time he’s stolen more and more specs to feed his habit.
The latest infraction carries a maximum penalty of 120 years in prison and a $310,000 fine. He’ll need a powerful prescription to see past that much jail time.
