Nov. 12--When the Bogdanov family returned to their upscale Northbrook home after a shoplifting spree across the Southern U.S. in February 2014, the loot they unloaded would have stocked a small department store.
It included two dozen children's tablet computers, eight Lego sets and 19 baby monitors, court records show. There were headphones, digital cameras, sump pumps and halogen lights, even 50 bags of coffee that had been lifted from Starbucks stores along the way.
On Thursday, Julia Bogdanov pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring with her parents in a decadelong scheme to rip off merchandise and fence it on the online auction site eBay. Prosecutors said the family stole with startling efficiency, hiding items under a bulky black dress worn by Bogdanov's mother that had been outfitted with special compartments.
Bogdanov, 36, faces up to five years in prison when she is sentenced in March, although federal sentencing guidelines call for only about two years behind bars. Her attorney, Scott Frankel, told U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood that he will ask for probation.
Her parents, Branko Bogdanov, 59, and wife Lela, 53, are scheduled to plead guilty Friday.
Standing in court with her hands clasped in front of her, Julia Bogdanov told the judge she left school in the eighth grade and has previously worked at a Carson's department store. When the judge asked her where she currently works, Bogdanov paused and whispered with her attorney, who said she was worried about naming her employer "in the public record."
When the judge asked her to just identify what her duties were, Bogdanov replied, "Retail sales."
The Bogdanovs were arrested in March 2014 after federal authorities followed the family on a four-day, cross-country stealing spree in their gray Honda Odyssey minivan, according to a criminal complaint filed at the time. Agents watched as the Bogdanovs entered stores in Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana, then left with Lela Bogdanov's dress seemingly bursting at the seams.
In one stop at a Toys R Us outside New Orleans, agents were watching as a gust of wind blew the mother's dress open, revealing a package contained in a blue lining "that appeared to be some kind of carrying device," the charges alleged. Agents also noted that her "stomach appeared more square or rectangular than usual, and it appeared that she was holding something against her stomach with her right arm," according to the complaint.
The charges alleged that over 10 years, the Northbrook family -- together with a cooperating person who acted as a fence -- sold merchandise with a retail value of $7.1 million for a total of $4.2 million through their eBay accounts. Many of the items, such as American Girl dolls, Furby robotic toys and Nanoblock building blocks, were sold in bulk and in their original packaging, the charges alleged.
When authorities confronted the fence -- described as a person over 70 with no criminal convictions -- he admitted having bought at least $6 million worth of merchandise over the past decade from "Franko Kalath," an alias for Branko Bogdanov, according to the complaint.
The family originally is from the former Yugoslavia, and both Branko and Lela Bogdanov will likely face deportation upon conviction and the completion of any prison sentence.
Records show Branko Bogdanov recently posted the deed to their $1.4 million, five-bedroom home on Weller Lane as collateral to get his wife freed on a $1 million bond.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
