March 05--A cashier at a McDonald's in the Gold Coast has been charged with a felony after allegedly stealing a customer's laptop, prosecutors said at a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
On Monday, the customer placed an order with Norval Johnson, 23, at the McDonald's, 10 E. Chicago Ave., and then accidentally left a MacBook Pro in a bag on the counter, prosecutors said. When the customer, a woman, realized her mistake and came back to the counter, the laptop was missing.
The woman then left the McDonald's and flagged down a police officer, according to a police report filed after the incident. Officers entered the fast-food restaurant and asked for a manager, the report states. While they waited, Johnson allegedly said that a man wearing a Timberland knit cap and a dark hoodie had stolen the laptop and left the store.
But when police reviewed security tapes, the report states, they saw Johnson pick up the laptop, take it to a back room and put it on a shelf under his jacket. A manager found the laptop in the back room under the same jacket, the report states.
During the hearing, Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered Johnson, of the 7300 block of North Damen Avenue in Chicago, released on a $75,000 recognizance bond and placed him on electronic monitoring.
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