
During the holiday season, just four days before Christmas Day 2024, a female victim of a street criminal was scammed out of her purse, cash, credit cards, and her Apple iPhone in a scam known as the Cash Drop Scam or Money Drop Scam in the parking lot of Trader Joe’s. An offender took advantage of the victim during the spirit of the holiday season, and distracted her by representing herself as someone who was doing a good deed for the victim, while she was actually committing a crime that caused the victim financial harm and serous inconvenience.
Then, three days after Christmas the citizens of Arlington Heights were deprived of important information by the leadership of the Village of Arlington Heights and the police department administration in a misinformation scheme that sterilized and misrepresented the narrative of the crime. The Village of Arlington Heights neglected to inform and alert the public, preventing citizens of Arlington Heights from becoming aware of a specific method of crime, and preventing citizens from taking action to reduce their risk of becoming repeat victims.
Under the direct authority of Chief of Police Nicholas A. Pecora, Jr. a press release from the Arlington Heights Police Department misinformed the public about this crime, representing the crime as a simple purse theft. A reasonable reader of the press release would incorrectly assume that the victim carelessly or absentmindedly left their purse unattended in their car while it was parked in a handicapped space near Trader Joe’s.
Theft 24-024967
Location: 17 W. Rand Rd. (Trader Joes)
Date/Time: On 12/21/24 at 5:30 PM
Victim reported an unknown subject stole her purse and cell phone from inside her white Infiniti which was parked in a handicap spot.

What actually happened …
(per Theft 24-024967 FOIA request)
On Saturday, December 21, 2024, at approximately 5:51 p.m., Arlington Heights police officers responded to the Trader Joe’s parking lot located at 17 West Rand Road for a Theft Report. The caller reported that their purse and phone had been taken. Upon arrival, police officers made contact with the complainant, who provided a description of the suspect as a female Asian, dark-colored shoulder length hair and a light-colored jacket. The police officers checked the immediate parking lot and did not locate the subject described.
The police officers discovered that the victim, a female, age 65, parked her white 2017 Infiniti QX80 SUV in a handicap parking space near the front of the parking lot closest to the store. She brought her Louis Vuitton purse and phone with her into the store, placing the items in the small child seat/basket area near the handle. She continued shopping and checked out, bringing the cart and groceries to the rear of her vehicle.
After she loaded the groceries into the rear trunk of her Infiniti, she got into the driver seat with her belongings, and called her husband to speak with him over the phone. She had placed her Apple iPhone on the center console and the Louis Vuitton purse on the passenger seat, when an unknown Asian woman knocked on her driver window.
The unknown Asian female told the victim that the victim dropped some cash on the ground near the rear of the vehicle. The victim opened her driver door and observed cash and change near the rear tire area. She said “thank you” and walked over to pick up the money off the ground near the rear tire area — while leaving her driver door of the Infiniti open. While picking up the money, she had left her purse and iPhone in the car. After picking up the money, she stood upright and re-entered her vehicle. Inside her vehicle, she observed her cell phone and Louis Vuitton purse were missing from inside the car.
The suspected thief and/or scammer was no longer near her vehicle, and the victim did not see if the unknown Asian woman was the person who quickly grabbed her purse and iPhone. Also, the victim was not able to provide the last known direction of travel of the suspect.
The suspect was only described as a female Asian, age 30, with dark-colored shoulder length hair and a light-colored jacket. No other physical characteristics were available, and there was no mention of an attempt to review security video, or the availability of security video. There was no indication whether there was a criminal accomplice with the female Asian suspect.
The victim confirmed that no force, threats, or weapons were utilized during the theft of the property.
On the scene, the victim told police officer(s) that she is going to reach out to her banks and credit card institutions to request additional details on the transactions and forward the details to the police department via email. She said she will sign complaints for the theft.
The value of the purse was approximately $1,600, and the value of the Apple iPhone 12 or 13 was approximately $800 dollars.
According to a post (not verified) on social media from the victim’s husband, he described a similar narrative from the police report, and added that almost $20,000 in credit card purchases were “racked up” at Woodfield.



Awareness matters in the Village of Arlington Heights just like any other municipality. Quality municipalities or county jurisdictions keep their citizens informed regarding crimes and public safety incidents. On December 27, 2024 the Village of Arlington Heights and the Arlington Heights Police Department under the leadership Village Manager Randy Recklaus and the direct authority of Chief of Police Nicholas A. Pecora, Jr. omitted important details regarding this serious property crime, and provided no specific applicable information to protect citizens from future criminal incidents. The leaders failed in their responsibility to serve and protect citizens of Arlington Heights by delaying the crime notification by six days (which was also after the holiday shopping season), and then furthermore by misrepresenting the method of the crime that occurred — omitting important details that could be useful so that citizens could be aware to protect themselves.
Misinformation and under-informing citizens seems to be a pattern of the Village of Arlington Heights authorities.
Two sources that wish to remain unnamed have informed CARDINAL NEWS that Chief of Police Nicholas Pecora is an advocate of encrypting FIRE EMS RESCUE communications in the Northwest Central Dispatch System 9-1-1 center, which would prevent news media, security personnel, and everyday citizens from being aware of incidents in the Village of Arlington Heights. This would further give the Village of Arlington Heights the ability to hide details of serious incidents, violent crimes, and other public safety incidents that involve injuries, fires, and other hazards. Nicholas Pecora also declined to answer an email requesting confirmation of his advocacy for encrypting FIRE EMS RESCUE radio talk groups. This is counter to Open Government, and can lead to corruption of awareness of the quality of life in Arlington Heights. For more information, see Arlingtoncardinal.com/awarenessmatters …
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