Case Stemmed from Organized Retail Crime Task Force’s 2021 Storage Unit Bust
Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today announced that a Cook County man was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to the theft of more than $500,000 in retail goods. The sentence is the result of an investigation by Raoul’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force that recovered thousands of stolen items at several storage units in the Chicago area in December 2021.
Raoul’s office prosecuted Mahdi Alhaw, 34, of Justice, Illinois, who was sentenced by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Stanley Sacks after pleading guilty to a Class 1 felony count of theft in excess of $500,000.
“Organized retail crime is a multibillion dollar per year illegal industry perpetrated by sophisticated criminal organizations involved in drug and gun trafficking and other serious crimes,” Raoul said. “This plea holds this thief accountable while also serving as a warning that my office and our partners in the Organized Retail Crime Task Force will continue to aggressively pursue these offenders.”
The sentence resulted from a multi-agency investigation by Raoul’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force. During a search of Alhaw’s vehicle in 2021, the Chicago Police Department recovered items that led investigators with Raoul’s task force to several storage units where stolen merchandise was recovered. The storage units contained four semitrailers of merchandise, including clothing, electronics, cosmetics, mattresses, pet supplies and other items. BNSF Railway Police also contributed to the investigation.
Attorney General Raoul’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force is the first statewide, public-private collaboration of its kind in Illinois and is designed to foster cooperation among retailers, online marketplaces, law enforcement agencies and state’s attorneys dedicated to targeting organized retail crime enterprises. The task force allows the office to utilize data and tips provided by retailers and to partner across jurisdictions with law enforcement agencies to investigate organized retail crimes and trace thefts to the source.
In addition to establishing the task force, Attorney General Raoul initiated changes to Illinois law to create and specifically define organized retail crime in state law. The law, signed in 2022, puts in place stronger oversight of online marketplaces to curb actors who exploit these legitimate platforms to illegally sell stolen goods. It also creates a statewide intelligence platform to help retailers and law enforcement agencies better coordinate their enforcement efforts. Additionally, the law requires online marketplaces to verify the identity of high-volume sellers, which helps to police the outlets used to monetize stolen merchandise. Additionally, the legislature appropriated $5 million to the Attorney General’s office to award grants to state’s attorneys’ offices and law enforcement agencies that investigate and prosecute organized retail crime.
Deputy Bureau Chief Megan McGuire Bachman handled the case from Raoul’s Criminal Trials and Prosecutions Bureau.
