Authorities: Worker, spouse stole $2.1 million in goods from Carol Stream warehouse
A Chicago couple have been charged with stealing more than $2 million worth of merchandise from a retail distribution company's Carol Stream facility.
German Ramirez-Mendoza, 31, and his wife, Sara Garcia del Valle, 35, of the 6400 block of South Loomis Avenue, appeared at bail hearings on Friday morning. DuPage County Judge Brian Telander set bail at $1 million for Ramirez-Mendoza and $200,000 for Garcia del Valle, according to a news release from the DuPage County state's attorney's office.
In August 2021, the Carol Stream Police Department began investigating a series of high-value thefts from a warehouse owned and operated by Demar Logistics.
Ramirez-Mendoza worked at the company. From April 2015 to September 2021, he was assigned to move delivery trucks from the loading dock to the front of the warehouse, where delivery drivers then took them. Authorities allege that while moving a truck, Ramirez-Mendoza would stop it in the parking lot and unload merchandise into his vehicle before bringing the truck to its driver.
Police were watching his home in September 2021 when they saw him drive off. They followed the vehicle and stopped it for a traffic violation, authorities said.
Inside the vehicle, they found nearly $9,000 worth of fragrances stolen from the warehouse, authorities said.
Eventually, police found $2.15 million worth of stolen items from Victoria's Secret, American Eagle, Michael Kors Express, Sephora, Foot Locker, Old Navy and other companies at the house and in seven storage units the couple rented, authorities said. More than $20,000 in cash was found in the home, the release said.
The couple were arrested Thursday.
Ramirez-Mendoza faces four counts of felony theft, the most serious of which is theft of more than $1 million. Garcia del Valley faces two counts of felony theft, the top charge being theft over $100,000 but less than $500,000.
They would have to post $10% bond to be released pretrial and prove at a source-of-bail hearing that the money did not come from illegal activity.