Mysterious Tobacco Thieves Strike Store Second Time, Cops Say

Hundreds of dollars worth of cigarettes were reported stolen from Jewel-Osco and police believe it was the same pair responsible for a similar theft in October.

An employee who works behind the camera counter at Jewel-Osco at 8801 S. Ridgeland Ave., noticed that there were significantly fewer packs of cigarettes when reporting to work around 7:30 a.m. Nov. 19.

The cigarettes had just been stocked the previous evening and none had been sold that morning. The employee determined that $586 worth of cigarettes were missing and informed her manager, who reported the theft to loss prevention.

Loss prevention arrived the next day to review security video. At 6:26 a.m., a white female between the ages of 18-20 with long brown hair, and wearing a black winter coat and brown Ugg boots, was seen on camera.

The woman entered the store with a white male wearing a multi-colored jacket and black baseball cap. Police said the woman was grabbing cigarettes and putting them in her bag while the male went to another section of the store.

Both were seen exiting the store at 6:30 a.m., with the female’s bag bulging with merchandise.

Loss prevention believes the two are responsible for a similar theft on Oct. 21.