Bob Grogan

Three illegals arrested for shoplifting 13k in merchandise. Illinois soft on crime policies set them free so one could take the life of a person in Ohio. ​We are jn Naperville, Illinois where police officers completely dismantled an organized retail theft ring operating out of the area after hitting an Ulta Beauty store.What they uncovered wasn’t a casual case of shoplifting—it was a massive, professional operation. ​During the pat-downs, officers watched in disbelief as dozens of high-end skincare and beauty products literally cascaded out of the suspects’ pant legs and clothing onto the asphalt. Between what was hidden on their bodies and the packed trash bags stuffed inside their getaway SUV, officers recovered over $13,000 in stolen product. ​The three suspects arrested at the scene were identified as: ​Yudisleydi Cardoso-Ortega (42, Pittsburgh, PA) ​Camilo Sotolongo-Barreto (38, Youngstown, OH) ​Liesnell Fleitas-Garcia (43, Houston, TX) ​None of these individuals were U.S. citizens, and they were using temporary paper identification cards from new Mexico as cover. Under normal circumstances, a $13,000 multi-jurisdictional retail theft haul by transient suspects with zero ties to the community would make them automatic flight risks. They would be held behind bars. ​But this is Illinois. ​Thanks to the state’s controversial SAFE-T Act—which completely abolished cash bail—and the strict limitations of the Illinois TRUST Act, local law enforcement's hands were completely tied. Despite the massive scale of the theft, the baseline charges of burglary and retail theft were deemed "non-detainable" offenses at their initial hearing. Because prosecutors could only legally tie certain dollar amounts to what was physically stuffed in each individual's pants at the exact moment of detention, the system worked exactly how its architects intended: ​The criminals walked right out of the station on pretrial release. ​The soft-on-crime experiment didn't stay contained within Illinois borders, and the real-world consequences of letting transient felony crews walk free turned deadly almost immediately. ​Just two months later, Camilo Sotolongo-Barreto—the exact same man you see being casually processed in this bodycam footage—was back in Youngstown, Ohio. Free to roam because of Illinois' revolving-door justice system, Sotolongo-Barreto got into a property dispute with his former roommate, 37-year-old Nestor Diaz. ​Sotolongo-Barreto escalated the argument, drew a kn!fe, and took the life of Diaz. ​The illegal fled the state immediately, sparking a multi-state manhunt before U.S. Marshals and local police finally tracked him down in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has since been extradited back to Ohio, where he sits in the Mahoning County Jail on a $1 million bond, officially arraigned on a charge of murder. ​When politicians push "progressive" cashless bail policies, they claim it’s about equity and fairness. This case proves the terrifying reality. Illinois didn't just let an illegal, out-of-state retail theft crew escape accountability—their soft-on-crime pipeline actively enabled a violent criminal to stay on the streets just long enough to take an innocent man's life in a neighboring state. Is cases like this that truly make you sick to your stomach when you see the damage these policies cause.