Target Barcode Bandit Came From Bolingbrook: Prosecutor

BOLINGBROOK, IL - The DuPage County State's Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday that a 38-year-old Bolingbrook man has been charged with stealing electronics from the Target store on Kingery Road in Willowbrook. Authorities say that Ryan Stowers, who lives in the 500 block of Castle Court, Bolingbrook, faces one charge of burglary, a Class 2 felony, and one count of misdemeanor retail theft.

Stowers is accused of committing his crimes at the Target store on Kingery Highway in Willowbrook, authorities say.

“Once again, we have a defendant who allegedly traveled to DuPage County to commit a crime,” DuPage County State's Attorney Robert B. Berlin said in a press release. “Thanks to the well-trained eyes of the loss prevention officer, Mr. Stowers' alleged attempt at obtaining these expensive electronics at a significantly reduced price was thwarted."

Authorities in DuPage County say the Bolingbrook man brought several items including Swedish Fish and two routers to a self-checkout.

"It is alleged that when Stowers scanned the routers he covered the bar code on the routers with his left hand, pretended he was scanning the items, but instead scanned a bar code he had attached to his wrist using rubber bands," prosecutors say.

As a result, Target's bar code device scanned the routers as being priced at $49.99 each when in reality one was $99 and the other was $179, prosecutors said.

"It is alleged that after the transaction, Stowers left the store with the merchandise. Stowers was immediately detained by a loss prevention officer upon leaving the store. He was arrested and taken into custody last night," Berlin said.

Stowers’ next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 10.

Mugshot of Ryan Stowers via DuPage County State's Attorney's Office