Chicago man arrested on federal charges of inciting looting during unrest in August, allegedly put out call on social media
A Chicago man was arrested Tuesday on federal charges alleging he called for and participated in looting during the civil unrest that gripped the city last August, including a break-in at a marijuana dispensary on the Near North Side.
James Massey, 22, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday with one count of inciting a riot, which carries up to five years in prison. He had an initial appearance via telephone before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sunil Harjani, who ordered him released on electronic monitoring.
According to the complaint, Massey, who also goes by the name Steve Nash, posted multiple videos and messages on Facebook on Aug. 9 calling for people to travel to downtown Chicago to engage in property damage and looting.
“ATTENTION ATTENTION LOTTING START AT 12am,” one post stated, according to a screen grab included in the complaint. “DOWNTOWN AREA AND UP NORTH AREA ONLY BRING YA TOOLS SKI MASK AND GLOVES.”
Several people responded to the messages to discuss their plans to loot and comment on how it was going, including one Facebook user who stated to others in the group, “We like 13 cars deep,” the complaint alleged.
Early on Aug. 10, several people smashed the windows of a marijuana dispensary in the 900 block of West Weed Street, using tools they had taken from the trunk of Massey’s vehicle, which was parked in the dispensary’s parking lot, the complaint said.
About a half-hour later, Massey was captured on surveillance video walking up to a retail store in the 800 block of North Michigan Avenue brandishing a tire iron, while another person broke the store window, the complaint stated.
Massey and several others allegedly entered the store and stole numerous coats before returning to Massey’s vehicle, the complaint stated. Minutes later, a person posted to the Facebook group that they had “just hit” the store, according to the charges.
Massey also participated in the looting of a convenience store in the city’s South Loop neighborhood and a cellphone store in the West Loop, the complaint stated.
When Massey was warned that his posts inciting the looting were being circulated on social media, he allegedly replied he didn’t care, according to criminal charges. “(Expletive) dem...freedom of speech,” he allegedly wrote.
“The potential for violence and injuries to persons was very high that night,” prosecutors said in asking that Massey be subjected to electronic monitoring.
