Mob Grabs More Than 5 Grand in Starter Jackets From Sports Authority

A band of thieves made off with quite a haul from the Frankfort Sports Authority, grabbing 59 Starter jackets and running out to a getaway minivan.

"It was too fast to be scary," said store manager Kerry Oliver. "More annoying than anything."

Annoying and expensive. Oliver said the crooks took 59 Bears, Cubs and White Sox Starter jackets. The apparel retails at $150 for an adult-sized jacket and $100 for a child's.

Oliver said she was working in the back of the store and two other employees were at the front counter when a group of five young men walked in. The two workers immediately recognized them from photos circulated by Sports Authority after two other stores, one in Chicago and the other in Burbank, were robbed in the same manner, she said.

The employees alerted Oliver but before she could get past the footwear section of the store about three more men came in, the whole crew looted the racks of Starter jackets and ran out. The thieves escaped in a gray Pontiac minivan that was waiting out front, said Frankfort Deputy Police Chief Kevin Keegan.

This particular group of crooks has been targeting Sports Authorities and may be far from Frankfort by now, Keegan said.

"There's a lot of retail theft crews out there that are organized," he said. "They travel the country doing this.

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