3 From South Suburbs Accused Of Stealing 200 TVs At Railyard, AG Says

BRIDGEVIEW, IL ? Three south suburban residents are accused of stealing a shipping container filled with over 200 televisions and worth nearly $300,000, according to authorities.

Baraa Abuowda, 36, of Orland Park; Sammih Kasem, 28, of Orland Hills; and Imad Qendah, 40, of Burbank, are charged with four counts of felony theft, said a news release from the state?s attorney general.

The trio went to a railyard and stole the container, which was filled with pallets of televisions in transit to be sold at a retail store, according to the news release. The charges were the result of a lengthy investigation involving the state?s attorney?s Organized Retail Crime Task Force as well as BNSF Railway and Hodgkins police.

?Organized retail crime is not limited to occurring at brick-and-mortar retailers and can instead take place anywhere along the supply chain,? Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in the news release.

Investigators used GPS tracking to find the stolen cargo at a business in Bridgeview and confirmed the televisions had been unloaded there with surveillance before recovering the merchandise, according to the news release.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty, the news release said.