A woman with a lengthy arrest record was scheduled to appear for a bond hearing Friday accused of theft by deception for going door to door on the Southwest Side fraudulently collecting cash and checks for diabetes.
Neila Adams, 39, of 3200 W. Armitage Ave., was scheduled to appear for a bond hearing at Central Bond Court on Friday, according to a Calumet District sergeant.
Adams was charged with felony deception, felony theft, and possession of a controlled substance, Calumet Area Property Crimes Lt. David O'Callaghan said. At least 20 people from the Beverly, Morgan Park, and Mount Greenwood neighborhoods, including firefighters and police officers, told investigators saying they had given cash and checks to Adams, Calumet Property Crimes Detective Ian Barclay said early Friday.
Barclay said he had counted 362 victims and possibly more to come that had originally intended to donate the money towards the American Diabetes Association. The number of victims was determined by names on ADA pledge sheets that were found with Adams, according to information from a Calumet District sergeant and police News Affairs Sgt. Robert Cargie.
Police were attempting to figure out Friday morning exactly how many victims there were before requesting additional counts of felony deception against Adams, according to police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. Three days after Adams was paroled following a drug conviction on Aug. 10, she began approaching people for contributions on the Southwest Side, even stopping at several police stations and firehouses along the way, O'Callaghan said.
Adams would stop at people's homes, three police stations and six firehouses and say she had relatives die from diabetes and that she was collecting donations for the ADA.
When people expressed interest, Adams would ask them to make their checks out to "ADA," to which she would later add "MS" to spell out her last name, O'Callaghan said.
Others would simply hand her cash, he said. But on Tuesday night, two Morgan Park District officers noticed that someone was throwing papers from the passenger side window of a van.
When they pulled the vehicle over for a routine traffic check at 111th Street and Racine Avenue and spoke to Adams, O'Callaghan said, the officers found that the papers were old checks. They also discovered a crack pipe with residue inside, he said. After being arrested Tuesday night, Adams told police she had collected at least $3,327, all of which she spent on cocaine, according to O'Callaghan and Barclay.
O'Callaghan said that there was possibly more money involved. Police asked in a community alert that anyone who gave a donation to Adams call the Calumet Area detective division at (312) 747-8273 or the Morgan Park District Community Policing Office at (312) 745-0670. While there has been no evidence of identity theft, police were trying to determine whether any of the victims had their accounts touched.
"She's had a long, long history with the law," O'Callaghan said. Adams served five months of a 15-month sentence on a drug conviction before she was paroled, and the lieutenant said he counted at least 44 arrests in her history.
An American Diabetes Association representative was not available for comment early Friday. Adams was scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Oct. 14 at 9 a.m. in Far South Felony Court, Mirabelli said.
