$300 Rule Back in Effect

Years ago, Crimesha unilaterally decided she would decline to prosecute shoplifting charges unless the total monetary loss was in excess of $1,000. This was in direct contradiction of the law passed in Springfield that set the felony charge at anything over $300.

Illinois legislators, being gutless cowards who couldn't confront a fellow democrat, even if she was a totally incompetent lawyer violating the standards in place, stood by and watched as shoplifting and assorted retail crimes skyrocketed, making not only Chicago, but many suburban mall-scapes suddenly "business unfriendly" and shrinking the tax base by hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue and lost tourism.

O'Neill-Burke is (allegedly) changing that starting immediately:

• At the same time, published reports indicated O'Neill Burke had also moved immediately to rescind policies established under former Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to essentially decriminalize most cases of shoplifting in Chicago and elsewhere in the county.

  According to reports, O'Neill Burke would move to prosecute as felonies all cases of shoplifting involving the theft of at least $300 in merchandise or if committed by someone with a prior conviction. Those prosecution standards would comply with state law, as written.

  Previously, Foxx had directed her team of prosecutors to not charge shoplifters with felonies unless the accused thieves stole at least $1,000 worth of merchandise.

Again, this was illegal - Crimesha had ZERO authority to create law. We said at the time (and still say today) that she should be disbarred for this. Because crap like what she was doing led directly to shit like this:

• A serial shoplifter accused of stealing merchandise 12 times after being released from jail when Illinois eliminated cash bail last year has been given a nine-year prison sentence.

  Charged in August 2023 with felony shoplifting while on bail for another felony shoplifting case, 44-year-old James Tolbert sat in the Cook County jail, unable to afford the $1,600 bail deposit he needed to get released on an ankle monitor.

  Barely three weeks later, Illinois eliminated the cash bail system. Tolbert’s attorney filed a motion asking Judge Kenneth Wadas to remove the cash bail requirement. Wadas agreed, and Tolbert went home with an order to stay in the house from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

  After that, officials claimed, Tolbert shoplifted or robbed Sunglass Hut and Ulta Beauty locations in the Loop and on the Magnificent Mile a dozen times.

"a dozen times" that they can pin on him. The actual number is closer to three dozen we've been told.

There's plenty of blame to go around - all at the feet of democrats, who love criminals more than they like or tolerate citizens and successful businesses. But Crimesha, more than anyone, deserves every bit of contempt we all can muster toward her arrogant bullshit.