BUCKTOWN — After a man stole a just-delivered credit card from the lobby of a Bucktown building and a few hours later used it to pay for a shopping spree at a Target in Cicero, the victim of the crime is sharing video footage of the alleged thief in hopes of catching him.
Around 2 p.m. last Friday, a man wearing a yellow construction vest was seen in security camera footage entering the Clocktower Lofts at 2300 W. Wabansia Ave., using a door that was about to shut close from a resident who had just left, with her back turned to the man.
Ray Krauze, whose Chase Visa card was stolen, said that the man was the only person in the lobby between 1:24 p.m. when the package was delivered and when the card was allegedly taken at 2 p.m.
"He is seen on the video rummaging through the packages in the lobby and sticking something in his pocket," said Krauze, who also added that a package the man was carrying under his arm when he walked in was emptied and left there, with the address for another condo building in the 1400 block of Bell Avenue written on the label.
Around 4 p.m. Friday, while Krauze was at work Downtown, several hundred dollars were charged at a Target in Cicero to his credit card.
On Tuesday night, Krauze said that an Area North detective called him to say that the same individual in the security footage from his Bucktown condo building is the same person who used the credit card at the Target in Cicero.
"The detective pulled the video from Target and confirmed it was the same guy," Krauze said.
On Wednesday Officer Jose Estrada, Chicago Police spokesman, confirmed the credit card theft and fraudulent charges from last Friday but said that the investigation is ongoing and they are unable to provide any further details.
Krauze said he called credit card company to ask how the the card, which was delivered via UPS, could have been activated by anyone other than himself.
"I asked my credit card company the same thing - how was he able to use it if it wasn't activated and was it activated. They never really told me whether it was activated or not. In any event, from the time the card was stolen at 2 pm until the time it was used at 4:12 in Cicero, I don't know that it ever was activated which raises bigger issues for me as to why the credit card company would have allowed the transactions to go through," Krauze said.
"I felt violated that someone had come into our building and kind of walked around and inspected packages and stole the content of those packages,” Krause told NBC.
No one is in custody and Area North Detectives are investigating. Anyone with information about this incident can call Area North Bureau of Detectives at (312) 744-8261 or submit an anonymous tip to TIPSOFT.COM.
