2 charged with stealing televisions and other electronic devices from a freight train on Chicago’s West Side

CHICAGO (CBS) – Two men were charged Saturday evening in connection with the theft of televisions and other electronic devices from a West Side railroad container during a brazen daytime theft.

Derrick Weathers, 53, was charged with one misdemeanor count of theft and one felony count of drug possession. Lemar Hollingsworth, 21, was charged with one count of theft.

A total of six people were taken into custody following Friday’s theft, but two were released by Saturday morning. It was not immediately clear whether charges would be filed against the other two people arrested.

The Hours of daylight robbery A crime expert wondered how the brazen break-in could have happened.

“It’s disheartening to me that something like this could happen so casually,” said Arthur Lurigio, a professor of criminology at Loyola University Chicago.

The thieves were filmed pulling flat-screen televisions out of the back of a freight train car, walking with them to waiting cars and sometimes even passing a parked Chicago police unit with its lights on.

Union Pacific officials said it happened as the train stopped in Austin waiting for a transfer with a partner railroad.

Chicago police officers waited more than an hour for Union Pacific officers to respond and secure the tracks, according to police sources.

Union Pacific leadership acknowledged this type of crime in a 2021 conference call when a series of train thefts occurred in the Los Angeles area.

“I call this a relatively unique situation where, two years ago, members of a neighborhood saw a train that wasn’t running and took advantage of trying to open a box to see what was inside. Today it is more organized and we have it under control,” said then-Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz.

A day after the train robbery, a discarded and broken television was lying on the street at the scene of the train break-in. Drone camera footage showed more boxes and debris left behind after the theft, spanning several blocks, some even lying across the train tracks.

“The question I have is: How would the thieves know this place, this time, this freight car?” Lurigio said.

It is unclear how much the stolen goods were worth. Police said some had been recovered.

Union Pacific said the burglaries were not victimless crimes, adding that they posed a safety threat to the public, railroad workers and officials.

“They are likely to be repeated if there are no serious consequences – if these acts are not followed up,” Lurigio said.