Bridgeview man accused of orchestrating string of medicine thefts from area drugstores
Apr. 20—URBANA — A Tinley Park man was arraigned this week in Champaign County court on charges that he recruited and directed another person to steal thousands of dollars worth of over-the-county medicine from local pharmacies at the end of last year.
Judge Brett Olmstead ruled Thursday that Hasan Tarshan, 28, could remain free ahead of his trial on charges of organizing a financial criminal enterprise, continuing a financial criminal enterprise and four counts of retail theft of property valued at less than $300.
Charging documents from the Champaign County State's Attorney's Office said on a total of five different occasions between November and December 2023 at three local Walgreens stores, a man was seen entering, grabbing a large reusable bag from a shelf, and selectively filling it with over-the-counter medicines like Mucinex, Claritin, Flonase, Allegra, Benadryl and Zyrtec, then passing all points of sale and jogging out to the parking lot.
The man stole an estimated $3,088 in medication during the first recorded theft, which took place on Nov. 20, 2023, at the Walgreens at 1509 S. Neil St. in Champaign.
He stole an estimated $1,315 worth of meds in the second recorded theft at 4:23 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Walgreens at 1801 Philo Road in Urbana.
In the third theft, he stole an estimated $1,735 in medication at 6 p.m. the same day at the Walgreens at 220 S. Century Blvd. in Rantoul, and a security camera then captured him getting into a red Lincoln MKX with an Illinois license plate.
Rantoul police located another security video that showed a second man was in the vehicle during the theft.
During the fourth theft, which took place at 4:58 p.m. Dec. 28 at the same Urbana store, two men entered. One of them, who matched the description of the man from the previous thefts, stole an estimated $1,578 in medication then got into a Red Lincoln MKX.
Two hours later, two men entered the same Rantoul Walgreens and one attempted to fill a Hallmark paper gift bag with medication. The manager recognized the man from the Dec. 6 theft, confronted him and snatched the bag away.
The red Lincoln MKX with Illinois license plates was registered to Tarshan. Urbana police discovered that Tarshan had been arrested in 2018 by Elmhurst police on charges alleging he drove an someone to a Jewel-Osco grocery store to steal medication.
Through a joint investigation with Will County authorities, Urbana police obtained a warrant to place a tracker on the red Lincoln. It showed that on several occasions, the car went to a local motel, then a local store that carried medications, before returning to the same hotel — which police said is consistent with picking up and dropping off a "booster," someone paid to steal items.
The investigation led the Cook County Sheriff's Office to execute a search warrant April 9 on Tarshan's residence in Tinley Park.
In the living room, police allegedly found a couple of large boxes packed full of stolen medication and labeled for shipping. More products were allegedly set out on tables in their original boxes waiting to be packaged and shipped, "like a miniature warehouse and assembly line," police said.
Cook County authorities said they recovered an estimated $150,765 worth of merchandise stolen from various retail locations in several different states.
Investigators from the office's Organized Retail Crimes Task Force determined that Tarshan and his brother, Adnan Turshan, 27, allegedly stole the products to resell them on the internet, and a total of four additional co-conspirators have been taken into custody.
Police then located a man who allegedly admitted he had stolen the medications from the Champaign County Walgreens stores. They said he told them he had started working for Tarshan around October 2023 and Tarshan would sometimes drive him around daily to different drugstores in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.
The man claimed that Tarshan would provide him a list of medication he wanted and he would get paid for each box taken.
The Cook County State's Attorney's Office approved felony theft charges for the two brothers on April 11. They appeared at the Markham Courthouse on April 12, where a judge ruled they could remain free pending trial.
Tarshan faces six to 30 years in prison if convicted of organizing a financial criminal enterprise, a Class X felony.
