Posted on 09/21/2026 3:27:09 PM PDT by george76
A veteran Chicago police dispatcher was pinned inside her wrecked car, with nine broken ribs and two fractured vertebrae, when a man climbed into the back seat and stole her driver’s license and credit cards, prosecutors say. The man’s girlfriend then got into the front seat and began patting the injured victim’s waistline, apparently looking for more valuables.
Victoria Mesarina, a dispatcher with the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications for 26 years, was driving home in uniform when another vehicle slammed into the driver’s side of her car in the 3300 block of West Douglas Boulevard around 2:30 p.m. July 3. The other driver ran away, leaving Mesarina trapped in the damaged vehicle. A bystander let her use his phone to call 911, but the wreckage and her injuries kept her from getting out, according to court records.
While Mesarina remained trapped, waiting for first responders, prosecutors said, 25-year-old James Nelson climbed into the back seat, opened her purse and took a black coin purse containing her driver’s license and various debit, credit and gift cards. When Mesarina asked what he was doing, Nelson’s girlfriend, Mahogany Vann, 24, allegedly got into the front passenger seat and began feeling around Mesarina’s waistline as if searching for something.
Nelson and Vann fled as sirens approached. Chicago firefighters extricated Mesarina from the wreckage and took her to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she soon learned that two of her debit cards were being used at a gas station in the 500 block of South California Avenue, according to prosecutors. Police also obtained surveillance video from a BP station at Roosevelt Road and Independence Boulevard showing Nelson getting out of a Jeep registered to Vann and making a purchase shortly after Mesarina’s cards were stolen.
In a helpful coincidence, about 90 minutes after the crash, CPD pulled Vann over for a routine traffic stop. Nelson, who was standing nearby at his mother’s house, was “yelling profanity at the officers” as they conducted the stop, prosecutors said. Vann allegedly became irate and verbally abusive when police asked for her driver’s license, prompting them to order her out of the car. That’s when the cops allegedly found Mesarina’s driver’s license and Chime card on the Jeep’s floorboard, along with several other cards stolen from the victim’s purse. But the officers didn’t yet know the items were stolen, so they let Vann go.
However, the traffic stop was captured on body camera, and the footage later proved crucial. Detectives noticed Vann was wearing the same clothing and had the same distinctive hairstyle described by Mesarina. When detectives circulated photographs of two suspects from the BP station, one of the officers from the stop recognized Vann, prosecutors said. Police later put Nelson in a photo lineup, and Mesarina identified him as the man who had climbed into her back seat. Both Nelson and Vann are charged with unlawful vehicular invasion, burglary and unlawful possession of credit cards.
Judge Luciano Panici Jr. denied prosecutors’ request to detain Nelson while the case proceeds and instead released him on electronic monitoring. Prosecutors did not file a detention petition in Vann’s case.
Last month, Mesarina told NBC Chicago that police found the owner of the car that struck her. He claimed that his vehicle was stolen when it hit her. She is skeptical.
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The example you used describes a person who may not have been convicted of any crime.
The purpose of bail is to ensure appearance in court at a certain date. It is not intended as punishment.
Many of our laws are intended to protect the innocent and usually serve to make convictions more difficult. That is not a problem, it is a feature.
Sentencing is for punishment, discouragement from re-offending, and protection of the public. That is where I claim the real problem is. We don't have to punish the innocent.
In California, we had (have?) a three strikes law. A man with two felony convictions committed a strong arm robbery of children by helping himself to some of their pizza in a pizza parlor.
California's liberals screamed like mashed cats at the idea that he should serve the rest of his life in prison. I had no qualms about the prospective punishment. This man was proven to have committed felonies on three occasions. He and similar offenders are responsible for a major part of unsolved crime.
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