Following the money: Inside Cook County crackdown on cargo theft, stolen goods
Following the money: Inside Cook County crackdown on cargo theft, stolen goods
A theft doesn’t end when stolen merchandise leaves a shipping container. For Cook County sheriff’s investigators, the next question is who will buy it — and who will profit.
CHICAGO - A theft doesn’t end when stolen merchandise leaves a shipping container. For Cook County sheriff’s investigators, the next question is who will buy it — and who will profit.
That pursuit brought investigators to Future Fashion on West 47th Street in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood. FOX 32 accompanied officers during a search of the store following an undercover operation that led to charges against its owner and an employee.
The investigation illustrates a central challenge in fighting cargo and retail theft: tracing stolen goods through businesses and buyers suspected of putting them back on the market.
A retailer’s tip
The backstory:
Cook County Sheriff’s Police Commander Michael Ware said the Future Fashion investigation began with a tip from Victoria’s Secret.
"Victoria’s Secret reached out to me and said, we see a lot of our products that’s inside of the store that haven’t even been released yet," Ware said.
Ware oversees specialized units including the Community Safety Team, Organized Retail Crime Unit and Cargo Theft Task Force.
In September, investigators tested whether the business would purchase merchandise presented as stolen, Ware said. An undercover officer sold items to the store, then returned to buy them back.
"In turn, I sent an undercover officer back inside the store to buy my items back that I sold this guy," Ware said.
During the search, investigators examined clothing, handbags, perfume and shoes. They also found equipment they said could be used to remove anti-theft devices.
But identifying stolen merchandise required more than checking a label. Retail representatives helped examine inventory as investigators worked to establish where the goods came from.
Investigators said stolen products can be mixed with legitimate purchases — a practice they call "layering" that can complicate efforts to trace merchandise.
Owner says he has records
Store owner Rodrigo Espinoza arrived while investigators were searching the business. Officers advised him of his rights and arrested him.
Espinoza said he had records from the people who supplied the merchandise.
"No, no, actually we have the notes from the people that sell these stuff," Espinoza told investigators.
Asked where those records were, he pointed to messages and emails on his phone.
"They sent it to me on the message, the email on the phone," Espinoza said.
Espinoza, 38, and employee Josue Velasquez Gonzalez, 41, were both charged with theft of more than $10,000 and continuing a financial crime enterprise.
Both were released. Their cases remain pending, and both are presumed innocent.
Beyond the break-in
In a separate investigation, a thermal drone helped officers find suspects after three shipping containers were hit after midnight. Their body heat revealed their movements in the darkness, allowing officers to locate and arrest them, along with a suspected getaway driver.
Another freight container break-in near 18th Street and Western Avenue left looted boxes scattered behind.
But investigators say some cargo thieves never need to force open a container. Instead, they gain access to shipping systems and fraudulently redirect entire shipments.
Investigators described cases involving missing iPhones and tractor-trailers loaded with expensive equipment used in data centers.
The trail can stretch far beyond Cook County. In one case described to FOX 32, stolen iPhones were activated in Japan and China.
Fewer incidents, larger losses
CargoNet tracks theft on trains and estimates $304.6 million in cargo theft losses across the United States and Canada during the second quarter of 2026 — more than double the estimated losses during the same period in 2025, even as reported incidents fell 26%.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office provided separate figures covering both cargo and retail theft. Its reported stolen-merchandise value totaled approximately $4.9 million in 2025 and more than $8.3 million in its 2026 tally.
The county figures include retail theft and are not directly comparable to CargoNet’s cargo theft estimates.
Asked how pursuing individual suspects can disrupt a much larger criminal network, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said the reach of those investigations can extend well beyond a single arrest.
"The ones that we’re getting now have tentacles everywhere," Dart said.
For investigators, following the merchandise is also a way to follow the money — from the initial theft to the people suspected of buying and reselling the goods.
"And it’s evolving," Dart said. "These guys are not stopping."
The Source: The information in this report came from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, interviews with Sheriff Tom Dart and Commander Michael Ware, FOX 32’s reporting and observations during the investigation, and data from CargoNet.