CHICAGO—A person accused of stealing money by posing as a charity solicitor and hijacking the Zelle accounts of people that agreed to donate has been sentenced to 2 years of “second likelihood probation.”
Final spring, prosecutors stated Kyri Walker, 21, and Lamar Smith, 24, labored as a staff on the Magnificent Mile, commandeering banking apps and transferring giant sums of cash with out permission exterior the Nike Retailer, 669 North Michigan.
On March 20, a 20-year-old Gold Coast resident informed police that two males took his cellphone as he accessed his Chase app exterior the Nike Retailer. Smith blocked the sufferer from taking his cellphone again whereas Walker transferred $500 from the sufferer’s checking account, a CPD report stated.
Smith and Walker labored with a 3rd man as they focused a 37-year-old Uptown man on the similar location on April 6, prosecutors claimed. The sufferer informed the police he was strolling when three males requested him for donations. He agreed to switch $5 to their trigger, however officers stated Walker snatched away his cellphone after he unlocked the Financial institution of America app. Walker Zelled $2,000 from the person’s account to an account with a lady’s title, in line with his CPD arrest report.
The second sufferer informed police that he continued to obtain textual content messages from the robbers, “taunting” him for being suckered.
In keeping with the report, the victims recognized Walker in picture line-ups. Detectives forwarded his data to cops within the Lakeview-based City Corridor (nineteenth) District as a result of comparable crimes had been reported alongside the Clark Avenue bar strip in Wrigleyville. Officers assigned to the world for Cubs sport arrested Walker weeks later.
Walker struck an excellent take care of prosecutors: They dropped 4 counts of theft, essentially the most critical prices he confronted, and he pleaded responsible to 2 counts of felony theft by deception.
Decide Shelley Sutker-Dermer handed Walker the “second-chance probation” sentence, ordering him to get a GED and carry out 40 hours of neighborhood service, in line with courtroom information. Walker won’t have a conviction on his file and can be eligible to have the matter expunged if he completes probation.
Smith continues to combat the fees filed towards him.
