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SYCAMORE – A Hinckley man is facing charges in a retail theft string that police alleged happened recently at the DeKalb Walmart and the Menards in Sycamore.
Roland Wilson, 49, of the 100 block of North Garfield Street in Hinckley was arrested April 21 and has since been charged with multiple counts of retail theft, a Class 4 felony, DeKalb County court records show. If convicted, Wilson could face up to three years in prison.
Wilson is charged with two counts of retail theft of merchandise worth more than $300, each count connected to the different retailers, court records show. One charge stems from the DeKalb Police Department, and the other comes from Sycamore police.
About noon April 21, Wilson was found in a wooded area near Ralph’s Car Wash and Detail Center along Mercnatile Drive across from Menards, Sycamore police Detective John Keacher said. Keacher said Sycamore police were responding to a call about an in-progress retail theft from Menards.
Keacher said Menards employees told him they recognized Wilson from another alleged incident and on April 21 saw him allegedly leaving with items he had not bought.
“Menards observed him ... basically pushing out a cart of merchandise – a pretty high dollar amount, over $2,000 I think,” Keacher said.
After a Sycamore police officer made contact with Wilson in the wooded area, Wilson began complaining of physical ailments, Keacher said. Wilson’s comments prompted Sycamore police to call paramedics, who evaluated him before taking him to a Northwestern Medicine facility.
“If it’s a situation where we don’t know, we always want to err on the side of caution, and that would be to bring them to the hospital,” Keacher said. “In this case, Sycamore medics would have been called and responded.”
Sycamore police officers left the hospital once Wilson was admitted.
While Wilson was still in the hospital, his car was towed from the Menards parking lot, police said. At that time, Keacher was at the Menards interviewing staff about the alleged retail theft when he said he noticed an unopened vacuum from Walmart in the backseat of the car Wilson had driven. Other items also were in Wilson’s car, Keacher said.
Keacher said police believed the other items were stolen from Walmart in DeKalb. He called the DeKalb retailer to check.
“And they ... determined that earlier in the day, [Wilson] had been on their property and stolen a sweatshirt and a vacuum,” Keacher said.
During the investigation, police said Wilson went to retrieve his towed car in DeKalb and was arrested by DeKalb police. Wilson was charged April 22 after DeKalb police accused him of also stealing items from Walmart, court records show.
Wilson appeared before DeKalb County Circuit Court Judge Philip Montgomery on April 22 for a bond hearing. Montgomery set Wilson’s bond at $25,000.
DeKalb County court records show that Wilson posted bail Tuesday and was released. He’s next ordered to appear for a status hearing at 10 a.m. May 25.
Wilson is represented by defense attorney Chip Criswell of the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office. Criswell did not respond to requests for comment.