An Edgewater man from Chicago was arrested for package theft not once, but twice within a span of 12 hours. It’s quite surprising how he managed to get arrested for the same crime shortly after being released from the police station.
Sammy Batom, aged 60, was apprehended by the police at approximately 7:51 p.m. on February 10. The arrest came after a witness identified Batom as the individual responsible for stealing items from a building in close proximity to his residence in the 5700 block of North Sheridan, as per the records of the Chicago police.
After about five hours, the police released him but not before filing misdemeanor charges against him for theft, criminal trespassing, and criminal damage to property.
Around 12 hours later, the police apprehended Batom once again for allegedly stealing packages from an apartment complex in Edgewater. Upon arriving at the building in the 5700 block of North Sheridan, the officers spoke with the building manager who witnessed the theft. According to the manager, she saw Batom in the act of stealing the packages, which led him to identify himself as “Michael Jackson” before abandoning the stolen items and leaving the scene, as stated in a report by the Chicago Police Department.
Judge Luciano Panici, Jr. was asked by prosecutors to keep Batom in jail. However, instead of granting their request, the judge decided to send Batom home on electronic monitoring.
According to court records, Batom has been involved in a staggering 96 criminal cases in Cook County since 1987, out of which 14 were felony charges.
In July 2023, he was placed under court supervision for three months due to retail theft. Last November, prosecutors dismissed another case of retail theft, and in December, a charge of criminal trespass to a vehicle was dropped.
He has been convicted of several felonies, including burglary in 1987, robbery in 1988, and various narcotics-related charges in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
