Wilmette police bust massive interstate fencing operation; over $7 million worth of stolen items confiscated

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (CBS) — What started as a retail theft in north suburban Wilmette led police to a massive fencing operation.

Police uncovered millions of dollars’ worth of merchandise that now sits in a warehouse in Bolingbrook. CBS 2’s Asal Rezaei went to that warehouse Wednesday to look at the evidence.

The stolen merchandise is valued at more than $7 million in all. Police said they confiscated 273,000 items and brought them to the warehouse.

The stolen items included beauty products, makeup, over-the-counter medicine, and vitamins. They were stacked on shelves up to the ceiling of the warehouse.

Wilmette police Chief Kyle Murphy said the warehouse in Bolingbrook is the only place his department could store all the stolen goods right now. Bolingbrook is nowhere near Wilmette – about 40 miles by road – but it is one of several suburbs that are part of the multijurisdictional investigation in some way.

“I’ve been told by our retail partners that this is the largest one ever in Illinois, and one of the largest ever in the United States,” Murphy said.

The operation includes at least nine different law enforcement agencies, and started with shoplifting at a store in Wilmette last October.

“The individual who was arrested was stealing over-the counter products,” Murphy said, “and when we see that they’re stolen large-volumes, it’s usually an indication that they’re part of a larger, organized retail crime group.”

That is when undercover investigators began following a trail.

Police said the stolen goods were brought to a group of suspects who purchased the items at Chicago area storefront locations – knowing full well they were stolen. The suspects then moved the stolen merchandise to different locations throughout the Chicago area and removed all identifying retailer information – before having it hauled off on pallets to the East and West coasts, police said.

Online retailers in California and third-party distributors in New York were bringing the products back into the greater supply chain, police said.

Police said the suspects also engaged in money laundering – setting up bank accounts to conceal the origin of the illicit funds from reselling the stolen items, and using the illicit proceeds to buy residential properties while also funding the operation of their criminal scheme.

“You can’t look at retail theft as just a simple crime,” Murphy said. “I think it’s the fact that someone is committing that simple crime that makes an organization like this profitable.”

Last week, police arrested eight suspects, who are charged with multiple counts of felony theft and money laundering. Most live in the Chicago area, but three are from California.

The suspects are:

• Michael Beals, 41, of Bolingbrook;
• Hani Hamad, 51, of Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood;
• Iaad Hamad, 48, of Oak Lawn;
• Fe Keisha Hamlin, 41, of Bolingbrook;
• Markell Spencer, 35, of Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood;
• Dylan Bryant 28, of Irvine, California;
• Donald Kimball, 27, of Irvine, California;
• Brett Pendleton, 26, of Costa Mesa, California.

Wilmette police said all the stolen merchandise will remain in the warehouse as evidence until the case plays out in court. It is unclear what will happen to it all after that, as it cannot be returned to retailers.