Chicago store owner, employee charged with selling stolen goods; $2.5M in high-end merch confiscated

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Cook County Sheriff's Office said at least $2.5 million worth of high-end merchandise was confiscated from a Near West Side store, where it was for sale.

"The types of things we got, it's just stunning. Just stunning. It's Prada, it's Lululemon, it's Louis Vuitton," said Sheriff Tom Dart.

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Officers raided Flee Club on West Taylor Street last Tuesday, where they allege the operators knowingly sold stolen merchandise, even requesting certain in-demand items be stolen.

"We were sending people in to sell, and we were telling them it was stolen," Dart said. "We would then go back in with a different undercover officer and buy the stolen stuff we had just sold them. So, we were recovering the stuff. Everyone knew it was stolen."

Flee Club owner Darris Kelly and employee Jerry Walker are both charged with felony theft.

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The store was open Thursday, but no one in the shop would comment on the allegations.

Among the items the Cook County Sheriff's Office recovered are Air Jordans that had not been released. Dart said the Air Jordan 4 Retro SEs weren't to be sold publicly until after the Olympics.

Dart said his Organized Retail Crime Team found the items were stolen from stores and train cars. He added that the result of massive theft can be detrimental to retailers.

"All you have to do is walk down Michigan Avenue now and see vacancies here and there, 'cause they just won't do it anymore," he said.

Now the sheriff's office is working with retailers to return the items. Kelly and Walker are due back in court later in July.