BUCKTOWN — Two former UPS Shops in Bucktown and Logan Sq. which were working with out franchise agreements since March have been shut down by town.
In the meantime, the previous franchisee behind the 2 shops is at the moment being held in an Indiana jail on an unrelated federal wire fraud cost.
The shops at 1658 N. Milwaukee Ave. and 2020 N. California Ave. have been closed by town’s enterprise affairs commissioner on Thursday, in accordance with orange indicators posted on their entrance doorways.
In an announcement Friday, a spokesperson for the Division of Enterprise Affairs and Client Safety stated the shops have been closed as a result of they’d been working with out enterprise licenses. The shops’ licenses expired Nov. 15 “because of a finance maintain of over $40,000,” in accordance with the assertion.
The town didn’t specify what costs made up the substantial finance maintain.
The shutdowns come after months of complaints and frustration from neighbors who’ve gotten complicated solutions from retailer workers about whether or not they can really ship packages and use different companies there.
The Neely Group, owned by Morrell Steven Neely, started working the 2 UPS shops in October 2022, in accordance with a courtroom resolution issued June 11. However after two missed funds, UPS terminated the shops’ franchise agreements in mid-March, data present. UPS ended up slicing off entry to “transport and mailbox rental software program,” in accordance with the submitting.
The Neely Group then filed for chapter March 18. The Bucktown and Logan Sq. shops closed quickly and initially posted indicators indicating transport wasn’t obtainable. However the shops later reopened and continued utilizing UPS indicators and branding out entrance — regardless of now not having a proper relationship with the corporate.
In April, the enterprise affairs division acquired a criticism concerning the gathering and cargo of containers on the shops, spokesperson Elisa Sledzinska informed Block Membership in October.
The division then issued citations to each areas “beneath prohibited acts-deceptive apply, false affiliation,” and was persevering with to research to find out if additional motion was essential, Sledzinska stated.
The town gave discover to the Neely Group Dec. 4 that the corporate had 10 days to treatment the licensing state of affairs, however it failed to take action throughout that point, in accordance with an announcement offered Friday by spokesperson Stella Natufe.
“The closure is everlasting, except a license is obtained,” the assertion stated.
Block Membership was not capable of attain Neely straight on Friday. After reaching out to quite a few legal professionals affiliated with him, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed that Neely is at the moment of their custody at a metropolis jail in Hammond, Indiana, after his bond was revoked this month in a federal case.
An worker on the Hammond jail additionally confirmed Neely is being held on the jail.
Neely spoke to Block Membership in October, and stated he believed UPS had illegally terminated his franchise agreements, and that he hoped to regain them after making his case in appeals courtroom. A chapter choose dominated in UPS’ favor in June that the terminations have been legitimate.
“We didn’t do something flawed,” Neely stated on the time. “Every thing falls on UPS’ lap. They created this entire drawback.”
Lawyer Carmen Caruso, who’s representing Neely in his attraction, informed Block Membership on Friday he had not heard his shopper had been jailed, or that town had shut down the usstores. His shopper’s attraction towards UPS is ongoing, he confirmed.
“I’m keen to inform your group that what UPS did was outrageous. We imagine they utilized their requirements towards Mr. Neely in a discriminatory means, and I intend to do every thing I can to battle the franchisor for him,” Caruso stated. “Be at liberty to inform the world that Caruso intends to battle UPS till the ends of the earth.”
Casey Sorrell, a UPS spokesperson, stated Neely has not been affiliated with the corporate since March and the corporate is within the means of working via the courts to get the ussignage eliminated so neighbors aren’t confused.
“We’re working to get the indicators eliminated so prospects know these are now not UPS shops,” Sorrell stated Friday. “We’re taking each motion essential to make this occur as quickly as potential and we suggest the neighborhood go to different areas.”
The firm’s web site doesn’t embody the Bucktown or Logan Sq. areas in its listing of accredited franchises.
Neely has been mired in authorized and monetary points for years, in accordance with courtroom filings.
Filed in December 2023, the continued federal indictment in Indiana accuses Neely of collaborating “in a scheme to defraud suppliers and prospects within the petroleum fuels trade.”
On Dec. 6, Neely’s bond in that case was revoked and Neely was then “remanded to custody of U.S. Marshal,” in accordance with courtroom filings.
In September, Crain’s additionally reported that Neely and a number of other actual property brokers have been being sued by the proprietor of a North Middle house Neely was allegedly squatting in. He’s confronted quite a few different eviction proceedings in recent times and filed for chapter personally on “at the very least 5 events,” in accordance with the lawsuit.
The North Middle case is ongoing, in accordance with Cook dinner County courtroom data and lawyer Blake Horwitz, who’s representing the property proprietor.
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