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Man Swipes Phone at Courthouse, Offers to Sell It Back, Prosecutors Say

 Michael Martin, 35, of Englewood stole a woman's cellphone from a Leighton Criminal Courthouse locker Wednesday, then offered to sell it back for $200, prosecutors said.
Michael Martin, 35, of Englewood stole a woman's cellphone from a Leighton Criminal Courthouse locker Wednesday, then offered to sell it back for $200, prosecutors said.
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COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — An Englewood man stole a woman's cellphone from a Leighton Criminal Courthouse locker Wednesday, then offered to sell it back for $200, prosecutors said.

Michael Martin, 35, told the victim — who called her own number using a borrowed phone — that she could meet him near Hoyne Avenue and Warren Boulevard, prosecutors said. He'd be the guy in the red hoodie.

Martin was still wearing that hoodie Thursday when he appeared in bond court on a felony theft charge.

According to Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti, the victim, a 24-year-old Bridgeview woman, had agreed to meet Martin that afternoon. She just didn't tell him she'd be bringing along several cops.

"You cannot come into this building and commit crimes," Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois said Thursday before he set Martin's bail at $250,000.

Martin swiped the phone Wednesday afternoon from one of the 210 lockers near the courthouse entrance at 2650 S. California Ave., prosecutors said.

Cellphones have been banned from Cook County courtrooms since 2013, after Chief Judge Tim Evans said phones — and their built-in cameras — could be used to intimidate witnesses and victims. Visitors are required to leave cellphones and tablets in their cars or in one of the free lockers near the entrance.

A large sign above the lockers says in capital letters "Cook County is not responsible" for the items.

According to a police report, officers met the victim at nearby Walgreens, 2340 W. Madison St., before heading to Hoyne and Warren. When the officers approached, the report said, Martin told them "I'm just trying to give her her phone back."

Martin, of the 5700 block of South Wood Street, was charged with theft. Police said no mugshot was available.

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