A Chicago man has been charged with armed robbery and a Chicago woman with retail theft after an incident at the Jewel supermarket on Chicago Avenue in Evanston Monday afternoon.
Police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan says store employees told officers who responded to the 4:49 p.m. call that a man and a woman were observed in the liquor section concealing three bottles of alcohol valued at $61.78 in their backpacks.
Employees asked them to put the liquor back, but the two continued to walk towards the exit door and the man opened up a pocket knife and held it out in front of his chest.
Fearing for their safety, the employees did not make any further attempt to stop the two.
Dugan says police found Greg A. McCoy, 32, of 103 W. 112th in Chicago, and Calendula Owens, 37, of 4111 S. Federal in Chicago, in the 900 block of Sherman Avenue and recovered the alcohol and pocket knife from them.
Traveling this far for $60.00 in alcohol?
It seems a long way to travel to steal $60.00 in alcohol. What drew these two here from the far south side of Chicago to do that?
Aren’t there hundreds of liquor stores and grocery stores with liquor departments between there and here? Did they come by car or the el or Metra? Do they have some personal connection to Evanston or is there another reason that they chose this particular store in Evanston?
I don’t have any particular agenda. I sincerely don’t know the answer to these questions. But I think that it might be helpful information for this particular store and perhaps for our community.
traveling crooks
That’s a fantastic question! I think about that evey time I read an article about crooks from far away neighborhoods, coming to the North Shore to do their dirty work. Are they already well-known in Chicago? Do they think they’ll never get caught if they live far away? Even the people caught with LOADED guns in their cars….if they weren’t planning any harm, then why are all these arrests so troubling that their guns were loaded and ready to fire. I doubt, though, that police would get any type of intelligent answer from these people who get caught…..thanks for bringing that up, though.
It’s not always that deep
We don’t know if they actually live at the addresses listed in the paper. It could be the address on their IDs. If you notice their addresses, and know anything about the southside, they live several miles from each other. More than likely they either live nearby or frequent the area for another reason. $60 in alcohol sounds like drugs anyway. The truth is often stranger than fiction.
These guys live up North
These guys live up north right around the corner from me. I definitely don’t see why they travelled so far.
Why travel north to steal liquor
I’m told in bad areas of Chicago the liquor stores have protection unlike we have in Evanston–or many other places.
The employee is behind bullet proof glass. You put your money on a one-way turn table, the employee then puts the liquor on the turn-style for the customer.
I.e. much like a secure Currency Exchange.
Turn tables
Much like Popeyes on Howard.