Teens charged with theft; sought refund for box of rocks
BY SUSAN DEMAR LAFFERTY slafferty@southtownstar.com June 14, 2012 9:10PM
Grabenhofer
Updated: July 16, 2012 6:33AM
Two teenagers were charged with retail theft after they allegedly tried to get a refund on a box of rocks at the Sears store in Orland Square Mall on Tuesday, police said.
Charged were Joseph Grabenhofer, 19, of 1710 Arbor Lane in Crest Hill, and Pawel Loboz, 19, of 16311 Lakeside Drive in Lockport, Orland Park police said.
Plainclothes police officers — part of Orland Park’s Targeted Response Unit — first observed Loboz collecting rocks at a construction site in the mall parking lot, police said. A short time later, they saw Grabenhofer leaving Sears with a shopping bag. The teens got into a vehicle and drove back to the construction area, where Loboz gathered more rocks, police said.
The two teens returned to Sears, where they tried to get a refund for a $400 Samsung Tablet, police said.
The officers notified Sears security, which investigated the transaction and discovered the Samsung box was filled with rocks from the construction site.
The teens attempted to flee but were stopped by police and taken into custody, police said.
They have a July 12 court date in Bridgeview.
