Crime & Safety

Flash Mob Steals Fortune in Hair Extensions

Nine subjects seen on store surveillance video grabbing as much hair as they could carry out of Oak Lawn beauty supply store, police say.


A flash mob stole $40,000 worth of human hair extensions during a nocturnal raid on an Oak Lawn beauty supply store, reports said.

Oak Lawn Police responded to Adam’s Beauty Supply at 8718 S. Cicero Ave., when employees phoned in a break-in around 7 a.m. June 22.

According to the report, the owner checked his cell phone when he woke up that morning and found a text message from his alarm company, advising him of a “glass break” at the store at 4:18 a.m.

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The store manager confirmed the burglary and the owner called the Oak Lawn Police Department.

Police said that a witness who cleans the strip mall found some merchandise in the parking lot that belonged to the beauty supply store.

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A store surveillance video showed two male blacks and a female black walking past the store around 3:30 a.m. and stopping briefly at a nearby bench. They walked past the store a second time, looking downward to conceal their faces, reports said.

The three returned 50 minutes later, this time with six additional people, police said. All of them were wearing hooded sweatshirts over their heads and faces, and gloves on their hands.

Using two landscaping bricks, the group smashed the door and entered the storefront. Police said the group grabbed as much merchandise as they could carry, and left the store, fleeing southbound through the parking lot.

The owner estimated the loss of hair extensions to be around $40,000 police said.

A bundle of human hair costs between $150 to $200, with the average woman's head requiring three bundles, according to reports of similar thefts. 



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