Thieving Foursome Flung Clothes from Car as Cops Chased

Photos by Todd Sherman | Northern Illinois FireGround

ORLAND PARK, IL — Four women who crafted a cinematic plan to lift clothes from an Orland Park store starred in a very public arrest Friday evening.

Ketta Lawrence, 39, of Chicago, Aaliyah Miller, 18, of University Park, and Latasha Boston, 36, of Chicago wound up handcuffed and sitting on a curb in the parking lot of a strip mall after a police pursuit during which they flung their smuggled goods out the car window.

It started at JCPenney in Orland Square Mall, when police were tipped off to a retail theft in progress just after 6 p.m. An employee reported two women grabbing multiple items and heading inside the dressing room, while one woman appeared to serve as a lookout outside the store. Miller and Lawrence "did not seem to care about size or price" while swiping the items from the racks, the loss prevention agent told police. The two women left empty-handed, and a third—a 15-year-old female minor—went in with an empty bag, later emerging with it filled. The three were then seen leaving the scene in a black Buick SUV. A fourth woman—later identified as Boston—drove the getaway car.

As police approached, the women hopped in a car and headed away from the mall. Even after an officer approached the car and tapped on the window, Boston sped off.

After a brief chase from 143rd and John Humphrey Drive to Orland Crossing shopping center at 142nd Street, the suspects emerged from the vehicle and were cuffed in the parking lot. The loss prevention officer ID'ed the group as those she had seen in the store. Police found items with the sensory tags still attached, with aluminum foil covering them, as well as a roll of aluminum foil in the backseat. The minor—a 15-year-old female—became combatant with officers, "began to pull away, flail her arms." All four were taken to the department, where the minor was issued points to her juvenile record and then released to her mother.

Roughly $790 in merchandise was recovered.

Lawrence was charged with felony retail theft, obstructing identification, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Miller was charged with felony retail theft and obstructing identification. Boston was charged with operating an uninsured motor vehicle, fleeing and eluding a police officer, avoiding a traffic control device, failure to signal when required, illegal squealing of tires, and disobeying a police officer. Boston posted bond and was released. Lawrence was transported to the Markham courthouse on June 5; Miller was transported to Bridgeview Courthouse on June 6.