Case Dismissed In New Lenox Walmart Quick Change Scam

NEW LENOX, IL - Not everyone arrested by police officers across Will County gets to go to court. Take Monday night, for example. The New Lenox police department arrested 25-year-old Brooklyn, New York resident Claudia Taiche Mioara on suspicion of felony theft by deception. She was accused of conducting a quick change scam at the New Lenox Walmart store along the Lincoln Highway. By Tuesday night, however, she was let out of the Will County jail. Her case was dismissed.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office opted not to move forward with criminal charges at the Will County Courthouse.

"Charges are not going to be filed," Will County State's Attorney's Office spokesman Chuck Pelkie said. He said prosecutors "don't have enough evidence to move forward with a felony charge."

Pelkie said it was his understanding that the New York woman is now being held as a suspect by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Federal (officials) are interested in her," he said.

New Lenox Police told Patch that Mioara has no apparent ties to the New Lenox area. New Lenox Deputy police chief Louis Alessandrini gave the following account about the young woman's arrest Monday night.

The initial police call came in as a delayed retail theft, meaning that it got reported to police a few hours afterward," Alessandrini said. "A woman and another person brought two computers to the check out area and during the transaction, she conducted a quick change scam. She left with two computers and the store was short $800."

The New Lenox Walmart subsequently notified other area Walmart outlets to be on the lookout for the tandem.

"They ended up in Peru, Illinois attempting to return two computers. She was taken into custody by Peru police and brought here to the New Lenox Police Department and charged," Alessandrini said.

Before the woman was called to appear before a judge for her bond hearing, the case was dismissed by Will County prosecutors. Will County jail logs show that Mioara was released from their custody at 5:40 p.m. Tuesday.

Police in New Lenox were unable to determine the identity of the other person who accompanied Mioara from Brooklyn.

"There was a male individual. We don't know who it is to this point," Alessandrini said.

Mugshot via Will County Sheriff's Department