Missing Nursing Home Resident Arrested on Retail Theft Charge

EVERGREEN PARK, IL -- A Chicago man reported missing from a Northwest Side nursing home was charged with retail theft when he allegedly took items from a Walmart store in Evergreen Park.

LaShawn Ammons, 40, appeared before Cook County Judge Peter Felice on a charge of retail theft.

Loss security agents at Walmart Supercenter, 2500 W. 95th St., Evergreen Park, noticed a man, later identified as Ammons, removing merchandise and leaving the store on Oct. 11, the prosecutor said.

According to court records, Ammons walked out with $60.76 worth of merchandise. He was confronted outside the store.

The assistant public defender told the judge that Ammons resides in a nursing home on the Northwest Side, which had filed a missing person report when he walked out of the facility and did not return. Ammons lives at the facility because he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The judge issued a $25,000 I-bond and electronic monitoring.

“You’re not going to leave the nursing home unless I give you permission,” Judge Felice said.

Ammons’s next hearing is Oct. 26 in Bridgeview.