(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Amazon Fresh stores may take the “grab and go” concept to a new level, but police in Naperville say two thieves tried to make off with more than $2,000 in alcohol and other merchandise at one of the supermarkets.
Police say they were alerted around 8 p.m. Tuesday to a burglary in progress at the Amazon Fresh on Ogden Avenue and arrested one suspect, 56-year-old Kelvin Greenfield of Chicago.
Authorities say Greenfield and another man had pulled up a rented truck near the store and filled a cart with $2,360 worth of merchandise before leaving without paying. Their load included several bottles of Patron tequila; four bottles of Hennessy Cognac; one bottle of Remy Martin; one eighteen-pack of Modelo Especial and 89 other miscellaneous items, police said.
Once outside the store, the men saw police and fled, but Greenfield was apprehended, police said.
Greenfield, who had been out on bond for felony retail theft, was charged with one count of burglary and one count of retail theft, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office said. A judge on Wednesday set his latest bond at $100,000, officials said.
No information was provided about the alleged accomplice.
State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said retailers lost nearly $35 billion in 2021 to non-employee theft.
“These losses affect not just the businesses in lost revenue or the employees in lost hours or wages, but also consumers in higher prices.
The allegations that Mr. Greenfield and another man entered the Amazon Fresh store with the intent to steal merchandise will not be tolerated in DuPage County,” he said.
At Amazon Fresh stores, shoppers have the option of using an app to purchase their groceries, which allows them to leave the store without submitting payment at a kiosk or cashier’s station. Amazon's slogan is: "Just Walk Out at Amazon Fresh."
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