In a caper that is sure to go down as one of the most breathtakingly original crime sprees in Chicago history, armed criminals were staging robberies at dozens of stores across Chicago. The "thieves" would net only a few dollars. But the "victims" — illegal aliens — who were inside the store had paid thousands of dollars to the "thieves" to rob them as well.
The armed robbery allowed the illegal aliens to file for a U-visa immigration status, which is reserved for “victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in an investigation or prosecution,” federal officials said.
The fake robbers were extraordinarily sophisticated in their operation. They used stolen cars and plates stolen from other vehicles. They also had a second getaway car on standby.
Hundreds of illegals in Chicago took part in this scheme, and there's some evidence that the plot had been used in other cities as well.
The police finally caught a break when they arrested one of the fake robbery teams. All of the members were juveniles, and almost none of them had histories of committing serious crimes. They were also more than happy to tell the police that the robberies were staged, that the victims were in on it, but they didn’t know why.
Federal prosecutors said on Friday that each. purported “victim” paid “thousands of dollars” for the privilege of being robbed at gunpoint. Ringleaders then instructed the “victims” to be at a certain location at a specific time to be “robbed.”
Ultimately, state prosecutors either dropped charges or decided against filing charges against the “robbers,” two sources said. After all, was it really a robbery if the victim asked them to do it?
Sometimes the fake robbers would hit the "victim," hoping to add a touch of realism to the robbery.
On one caper, the fake thieves hit a liquor store in Bucktown. The robbers entered the store around 9:30 p.m. when there were five "customers" ready to be "robbed." But one of the guns the thieves used went off and hit the store clerk in the abdomen, injuring him critically.
The clerk survived, and the five illegals went down to the district police stations to receive their paperwork to take to immigration officials.
Eventually, the scheme unraveled and the ring was broken up.
There's a possibility of a nationwide ring of fake thieves engaging in the same scheme after it was reported that a similar "robbery" took place in Houston.
In a case apparently not related to the men charged on Friday, a phony robbery at a Houston gas station in January ended with the “robber” being shot and killed by a witness, the New York Post recently reported.
Rasshauud Scott, 22, ran up to a couple at the filling station and appeared to be robbing them of their purse and wallet, the Post reported. A bystander killed him as he ran away.
“Polie then realized there was a ‘pattern’ of similar reported robberies — and that the victims ‘had applied for, or been granted U-visas due to their status as victims of these crimes,'” said the paper.
How many illegals gamed the system like this and are now living legally in the U.S.? We'll never know. But you can bet that it's going to be tried elsewhere until the federal government cracks down on visa fraud.
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