A northwest suburban Chicago man was convicted by a federal jury Thursday of running a multi-million dollar retail crime ring, according to federal prosecutors.
After four days of trial, Artur Gilowski, 48, of Barrington, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Gilowski was ordered detained immediately after the verdict was read on Thursday.
According to evidence presented at trial, Gilowski’s coconspirators stole tens of thousands of products – valued at over $20 million – from brick-and-mortar retail stores in Chicago, Franklin Park and Texas, then shipped them to Gilowski, who sold the stolen goods on e-commerce websites Amazon and eBay, generating more than $11 million in profits.
The thieves traveled across the country in vehicles registered under false names and used “booster skirts” (garments with concealment pouches for stolen goods) and electronic transmitters designed to disrupt retailers’ security tags and loss-prevention measures. Using aliases, they rented storage lockers where they kept the stolen items until they could be shipped to interstate and foreign customers via the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx.
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