9 charged with $2.6K theft from Lombard sporting goods store

Nine people have been charged with stealing more than $2,500 in items from a sporting good store Wednesday night in west suburban Lombard.

Police responded at 9:39 p.m. to a reported theft at the Dick’s Sporting Goods store in the 800 block of Butterfield Road in Lombard, according to a statement from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

All but one of the suspects had entered the store and began taking and hiding about $2,600 worth of items, prosecutors said. They left the store, but saw squad cars with their lights on in the parking lot and started throwing the stolen merchandise into the lot.

The group split into two separate cars and tried to drive away from the scene, according to the state’s attorney’s office. One vehicle, containing five of the suspects, was apprehended in the parking lot.

The second vehicle was driven by 33-year-old Antwana Washington, who stayed in her vehicle while the eight others went into the store, prosecutors said. She and three other suspects drove off from the parking lot, heading west on Butterfield Road.

This resulted in a high-speed chase in which Washington reached speeds of up to 75 mph in a 35 mph zone on Roosevelt Road, prosecutors said. Her vehicle was eventually apprehended in a parking lot after officers used stop sticks to disable it.

Washington, of Chicago; 25-year-old James Hodge, of South Holland; 25-year-old Travis Jackson, of Chicago; 18-year-old Karizma Lawrence, of Calumet City; 18-year-old Tiana Smith, of Chicago; 18-year-old Stephanie Mitchell, of Chicago; 18-year-old Tia Jennings, of Chicago; 19-year-old Tashayn Ross, of Chicago; and an unidentified juvenile were all charged with retail theft and burglary, according to the state’s attorney’s office. Washington was also charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding.

Bond was set at $10,000 for each of the suspects in a court hearing Thursday morning, according to the state’s attorney’s office. They were next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 16, 2018.