Chicago City Wire

Angelique Payne might be a mother. She might be a farmer.

She is certainly a thief.

The 22 year-old Franklin Park native shoplifted two boxes of diapers from a Buffalo Grove Jewel-Osco in Jan. 2021, according to a village police report. That's along with 18 bottles of Jameson Irish Whiskey worth an estimated $863.

"She was seen on surveillance video putting two cases in the bottom of the cart and one case on the top of the cart," police said. "She then places two boxes of diapers on top of the cart and leaves the store without paying for them."

Payne "was recognized by the employee for past thefts at the store."

Officers picked her up at 4:43 p.m. on a Friday. She wasn't unfamiliar with the process.

The great Buffalo Grove whiskey and pampers heist was one of at least 22 retail theft arrests for Payne across the Chicagoland area since 2019-- that Chicago City Wire could confirm. Context clues suggest there are more.

Payne is one of just 34 accused retail thieves at Cook County Jail, according to an analysis of its existing roster of 4,560 accused perpetrators. Every other inmate else housed in the state's largest jail is charged with one or multiple violent crimes, a review showed.

Not that the thieves haven't worked hard for their spots. Held at Cook County jail is a prolific group.

There's 44 year-old Cary Mamola (41 arrests since 2014), 47 year-old Wylie Jones (38 arrests), 70 year-old Frank Perkins (23 arrests) and 39 year-old Tyris Robinson, who has been arrested 24 times since 2019, or once every other month.

Aaron Wilbourn, 34, has been arrested 30 times since 2014, when he was released from state prison, where he served five years on drug charges.

Anthony Richardson, 45, has been arrested 41 times since 2014, including a string of nine retail theft arrests over four months in the summer of 2017. He wore a Brian Urlacher Chicago Bears jersey in the mug shot for eight of them.

Unique among them, U.S. Small Business Administration records show, was Payne, who in between shoplifting arrests, also managed to run a two-person "miscellaneous crop farming business." In Aug. 2020, she was approved for a $20,000 Payroll Protection Program (PPP) Loan by Cross River Bank of Ft. Lee, NJ.

"Miscellaneous" crop farmers like Payne grow things other than oilseeds or grains, according to the North American Classification System (NAICS).

"Mothers who shoplift diapers"

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has protested that his SAFE-T Act, which prosecutors say will force Cook County to release half of its inmates -- including all 34 accused thieves --- on Jan. 1, 2023, was created to help "mothers who shoplift diapers" and cannot afford cash bail.

Examining the populations of jails in Cook, Will, Lake, Kane, DuPage and McHenry Counties-- approximately 7,000 inmates-- Payne was the only diaper thief Chicago City Wire could identify.

Chicago Police records show she was arrested twice in 2019, when she was 18 and a student at Leyden H.S., for breaking into cars-- once in Wicker Park, and a second time in Austin, on the city's far western edge, before starting a suburban shoplifting spree.

Payne would leave no collar county untouched, racking up known arrests in Waukegan, Zion, Plainfield, Fox Lake (twice), Sycamore (three times), Lake Zurich (twice), Glendale Heights, Algonquin, Round Lake Beach, Wood Dale, Vernon Hills, Des Plaines, Wheaton, Westmont and Mundelein, over two years.  

When Sycamore police arrested Payne on June 30, 2020, for the three Sycamore thefts, she was already facing similar charges in McHenry, Lake, Will and DuPage Counties.

Over the following 60 days, she appeared in court, was released, received her $20,000 PPP loan, then robbed a retail establishment in Lake Zurich and was arrested again.

Payne was arrested and released five times in 2021, then and three more times in 2022 before Will County Sheriff's officers picked her up on outstanding warrants in August, while driving outside Joliet.

She was transported to Cook County Jail on Aug. 2 and remains there today, held without bail

----

Who are the 34 accused retail thieves currently in Cook County Jail?

The table below shows 34 perpetrators being held at Cook County Jail, their duration of stay and number of City of Chicago arrests since 2014.

Arrest totals do not include suburban / collar county records, or City of Chicago arrests before 2014.

Name		Mos.	Age	Bond	Chicago arrests since 2014
Anthony Richardson	M	0	45	$10,000	41
Cary Mamola	M	0	44	$25,000	41
Wylie Jones	M	3	47	$10,000	38
Aaron Wilbourn	M	1	34	EM	30
Tyris Robinson	M	3	39	NONE	24
Frank Perkins	M	6	70	$30,000	23
Keith Nelson	M	0	48	$25,000	22
Greene Flowers	M	3	62	NONE	21
Syrron Williams	M	4	36	NONE	20
Yolanda Henderson	F	0	48	$10,000	17
Nixco McMillan	M	7	51	$150,000	14
Dewitt Hamilton	M	4	42	NONE	13
Franc Williams	M	3	56	NONE	11
Andre Boulden	M	1	57	$75,000	10
Maurice Tolliver	M	0	30	$5,000	10
Lashaun Ammons	M	2	46	$10,000	9
Andre Busch	M	2	57	$50,000	8
Jaeylin Maxwell	M	1	19	$11,000	8
Corell Foster	M	6	36	$10,000	7
Jasmine Whitten	F	3	25	NONE	7
Antoine Reed	M	1	32	NONE	6
Romel Gates	M	8	24	$10,000	4
Angelique Payne	F	2	22	None	4
Derrick Warlick	M	2	58	$50,000	4
Demiyus Koger	M	3	38	$90,000	3
Kenneth Willingham	M	1	20	NONE	3
Christopher Scott	M	0	41	NONE	2
Blake Saavedra	M	4	33	$5,000	1
Brandon Coyne	M	4	36	NONE	1
William Suber	M	4	45	EM	1
Elliott Cummings	M	0	41	NONE	1
Ronnie Flowers	M	1	58	NONE	0
Tracey Cisero	F	1	53	NONE	0
Erik Watts	M	0	48	$75,000	0

Source: Cook County Jail; Chicago Police