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More theft charges on ex-con filed
John Loresch
John Loresch

MONROE — An Illinois ex-con already charged in Green County after reportedly eluding police across the region for weeks while scamming dozens of businesses is now charged for similar crimes in Lafayette County.

John H. Loresch, 51, is in custody on bond at the Green County Jail on charges that he stole $150 from Swirl Station, an ice cream shop just north of Monroe, in January.

Now he faces additional charges in Lafayette County Circuit Court for thefts in that jurisdiction. Four misdemeanor counts of theft and three felony counts of misappropriating ID information were filed Feb. 25 against him.

Acc-ording to court records, Loresch hit area gas stations, restaurants and other businesses with a well-rehearsed scam he’s been perfecting for decades.

The scam involves posing as a relative or friend of the business owner, inventing a crisis such as needing money for a tow after a car accident and telling the employee he’s pre-approved to get cash. To further create the appearance of legitimacy, he often pretends to call the owner in front of the employee.

The criminal complaint alleges Loresch used this ploy in late January and early February at Marty’s Village Inn in South Wayne, the Conoco gas station in Gratiot, the Subway in Cuba City, the Subway in Darlington and the Wheel Inn in Shullsburg. In each case he walked out with $150 to $180 in cash.

But his spiel of pretending to know the business owner didn’t work at Zephyr Depot in Benton on Feb. 2, according to the criminal complaint. The cashier told Loresch her parents own the business and she had never before seen him. He hastily left, without cash.

In 2010, Loresch was sentenced to nine years in prison in Illinois for “stealing from an Elmhurst gas station by posing as a friend of the owner and persuading a clerk to give him $150,” according to a news report at the time.

Five years later, he was back on the street and doing the same type of thefts, targeting a gas station, fast food restaurant and a hotel, according to the Aurora Police Department in Illinois.

He got out of prison and was put on parole last July.

Loresch admitted to doing this type of fraud for decades and bragged he was “the best” at what he does, according to reports from a long interview with police after his arrest Feb. 14 in Monroe. During the interview, he offered his expertise as a service to businesses and law enforcement.

Loresch, whose last known address was in Champaign, Illinois, had warrants out of multiple jurisdictions at the time of his arrest, including Monroe, Rock County, Evansville, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Freeport and Champaign. Authorities in Stephenson County, Illinois, are seeking to extradite him from Green County.

In Green County, he is also the suspect in thefts from several Monroe restaurants, a Monroe gas station and a Brodhead coffee shop. He’s also suspected of thefts or attempted thefts across southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Charges have yet to be filed against him for these thefts.