Half of 'Bait 'n Bear Hug Bandits' Team Nabbed: Cops

A woman wanted for allegedly distracting a man in his driveway while her partner snuck up behind him and incapacitated him in a bear hug so they could rob him was apprehended Thursday.

Georgina Klammer, 39, most recently of 400 Western Ave., was captured by a patrol officer on the street where she lived—before she started living at the county jail—about 5:30 a.m. Thursday.

Klammer had been on the lam since March, police said. That was when she allegedly teamed with a man for a daring daylight ripoff.

Klammer reportedly appeared in the driveway of a casual acquaintance and asked him for money. While she had the man entranced, another man ambushed him, police said, grabbing their mark and subduing him in a bear hug.

While the man was trapped in the bear hug, police said, Klammer plucked his wallet from his pocket. She and her alleged partner in crime then made their getaway.

And Klammer stayed away—reportedly leaving the state, possibly for Michigan.

Joliet Police Department detectives worked up their case against Klammer in her absence. While the man she allegedly robbed did not know her name, police said, he told detectives he did remember her from the Center Street bar O'Charley's, where he had bought her drinks in the past.

Klammer apparently decided to return to Joliet some time in the not-so-distant past, police said, and after coming back happened to run into a patrol officer Thursday morning.

The officer took Klammer into custody on a warrant charging her with robbery. She was transported to the Will County jail and Klammer was booked into the slammer, where she is being held on a $100,000 bond.

Klammer's alleged accomplice remains at large.