A Chicago man was arrested last week after police say they recovered approximately $1 million worth of stolen Nike and New Balance sneakers.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office served a warrant January 31 at a warehouse subleased by 26-year-old Erick Lujano Bautista near Douglass Park. Police say they’re working with Nike and New Balance to determine the status of the remaining merchandise and that Lujano Bautista was not an authorized seller for either brand.
Lujano Bautista appeared in court Sunday and was charged with felony theft. He’s been released from custody as the the trial is pending.
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In the photos shared by police, piles of boxes can be seen for the A Ma Maniére x Air Jordan 3 “Diffused Blue,” set to release in March, and the Air Jordan 1 “Black Toe Reimagined,” which is due next week. Also pictured are the Air Jordan 3 “Black Cement,” one of the biggest releases of 2024, and the recently released Air Jordan 12 Women’s “Phantom.”
“My office, aided by financial support from Attorney General Kwame Raoul, will continue to aggressively pursue organized retail crime organizations, which have been shown to fund other illegal activity,” Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said in a release.
Dart formed the Organized Retail Crime Unit in 2023, which says it recovered more than $3.6 million in stolen merchandise in 2024.
In November, more than $200,000 worth of the then-unreleased Air Jordan 11 “Legend Blue” was allegedly stolen from a train car in California. Police said they found the boxes of shoes in a U-Haul truck nearly 20 miles south of where they went missing.
