WICKER PARK — Two massage therapists and a chiropractor who work in different Wicker Park businesses said the same 6-foot-8 man stole wallets and a phone from their businesses Wednesday and then went on a shopping spree.
The man went into the businesses, talked about getting therapy as an apparent ruse, and then ripped off items when workers left the room, employees said.
"We aren't dealing with shoplifting. They are targeting unsuspecting people," said Terri Lynn Visovatti, a massage therapist at Urban Wellness Chicago, 1564 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Urban Wellness Chicago is on the third floor of a building that has a security camera out front and requires folks to be buzzed in for entry. But a man got access to the building, which has several offices in addition to Urban Wellness Chicago, Visovatti said.
Visovatti was seeing a patient at the time the man came in around 4 p.m. Wednesday, and she said the man talked with one of her associates and said he was waiting to see Visovatti.
"He said 'I have an appointment' and sure enough she talked to him like it will be a bit and he asked when I would be done and she said soon, since he has an appointment," Visovatti said.
But when her associate left the reception area to meet with one of her clients, the man stole her associate's wallet and her own wallet, which had been sticking out of her iPod case, as well as her associate's cell phone, Visovatti said.
Then the man went shopping Downtown at Nike around 5 p.m. and spent $595.
Officer Ana Pacheco, a Chicago Police spokeswoman, confirmed the thefts and unauthorized use of a stolen credit card.
"The victim reported that upon returning to her personal belongings, she discovered they had been taken,
Pacheco said.
Amy Gonzalez, Visovatti's associate, said the man also used her credit card to pay for the cab ride to the Downtown Nike store.
"He has short hair, dark brown eyes, decked out in Nike, athletic build, deep voice, had to be about my age, so like 25. I talked to him, I offered him water, and my client even said he seemed to 'size him up,'" Gonzalez said. "Then he robbed us within the two minutes when he was alone "waiting" for an appointment."
Earlier in the day, around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dr. Kari Schmidt, a chiropractor, said a man walked into HealthSource, on the third floor of 1448 N. Milwaukee Ave. and told her he had knee and ankle pain.
Schmidt, who was on a lunch break, told the man she had an opening later that day at 5 p.m.
The man then booked the 5 p.m. appointment and said he would come back in a few hours.
"He was a slender African-American man and told us he was 6-foot-8, 200 pounds and 20 years old," Schmidt said.
Schmidt said the man told her he was going to sit in the waiting room and call an Uber, so she walked out of the room for a few minutes. When she came back, she discovered that her keys — home, office and car— had been removed from her coat pocket.
Her coat had been hanging next to the chair where the man was sitting.
Schmidt said her assistant's wallet, which had been inside a purse hanging on the back of an empty treatment room door, was also gone.
Using credit cards from Schmidt's assistant's wallet, the man soon spent more than $800 at a nearby Cricket Wireless store and then "treated himself to lunch at Wendy's" at 1623 W. Division St., Schmidt said.
Officer Michael Carroll, a Chicago Police spokesman, confirmed the theft.
Carroll said the thief was described as a black man, approximately 20 years old, 6-foot-8 and weighing 200 pounds, wearing a green zip-up sport jacket with a pattern, silver belt buckle, and a black messenger bag.
After a photo of the man was snapped on a Nest security camera in a neighboring office to Urban Wellness Chicago and shared with them, Gonzalez and Schmidt both confirmed that the man in the photo was the same man who had visited both of their businesses just before the thefts occurred.
