3 southwest suburban men accused of stealing merchandise including TVs from railroad shipping container

Three southwest suburban men are accused of stealing nearly $300,000 in cargo, including more than 200 televisions, from a shipping container at a Hodgkins rail yard, according to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office.

Baraa Abuowda, 36, of Orland Park; Sammih Kasem, 28, of Orland Hills; and Imad Qendah, 40, of Burbank, are charged with felony theft, according to Raoul’s office.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty and Kasem’s next court date is scheduled for Aug. 17, Qendah’s is Aug. 24 and Abuowda’s is Sept. 28, according to the attorney general.

His office said the charges stem from a monthlong investigation that involved BNSF Railway police and Hodgkins police. It’s alleged the three stole a shipping container from a BNSF intermodal terminal in Hodgkins that contained several pallets of televisions that were in transit to be sold at a retail store, according to Raoul’s office.

Investigators used GPS tracking from shipping containers to locate the stolen cargo, which had been transported from rail yards to a business in Bridgeview, according to the attorney general’s office.

Investigators used video and in-person surveillance to confirm the merchandise was being unloaded from the containers at this location and the televisions were recovered as part of the investigation, according to the office.

The theft occurred March 19, according to the indictments against the three, which were filed June 22 in Cook County Circuit Court. The indictments noted that 246 Samsung televisions were taken from the shipping container.

Raoul said the charges were the result of a multi-jurisdictional investigation by his office’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force, and that other railroads, including Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation, as well as police from Bridgeview and Hickory Hills, contributed.

“Organized retail crime is not limited to occurring at brick-and-mortar retailers and can instead take place anywhere along the supply chain,” Raoul was quoted in a news release.

mnolan@tribpub.com