Police search for
"pedicure bandit" in Illinois

Police in the Chicago suburb of Algonquin on Thursday continued to search for a thief who looks, smells, and feels marvelous. Algonquin police detective Andrew Doles said the man has ordered up an array of services in at least 20 spas in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin since last March and has left without paying the bills. ''Pedicures, manicures, facials, those are the standards he goes for,'' Doles said. All told, the man has stiffed spas for several thousand dollars' worth of services, he said. The man typically gets treatments such as a sea salt body polish and a hair cut and color, but before it's time for his massage, he says he has to leave the building to use his cell phone or get papers from his briefcase. Then, Doles said, the man leaves and never returns. ''[He has made] no threats of violence or anything like that,'' Doles said. The man uses the name Scott Kendry, an apparent alias, Doles said. At least six feet tall and weighing as much as 300 pounds, the man does try to explain why he's pampering himself. ''He said, 'Well, it's a new year, and my wife thinks I should take better care of myself, and I want to spend the whole day here getting services,''' said Jacquie Kacena of her encounter with the man on January 4 at her Bella Vita Salon & Day Spa for Men and Women. Luckily for Kacena, her spa was busy that day and the man made an appointment to come back the next day. But after giving a telephone number that, she said, was not his, he apparently thought better of it and never returned. ''He did hit another one on the 5th,'' she said. ''He did have services, just not here.'' Where he had them was over at BladezSalon.com Day Spa, also in Algonquin. ''He got a full body scrub, facial, and a manicure and pedicure by me,'' said Lisa Marach, a nail technician at the spa. ''He was here 3 1/2 hours.'' But a little while before his scheduled massage, Marach said the man told her that he was going to his car to get his briefcase. That was the last she saw of him. Police said the investigation continues. If he's caught, Marach plans to see him in court. ''I just want to look at him, like 'You jerk, you didn't even tip me. You made me rub your gross feet and listen to you for an hour and a half,''' she said. (Don Babwin, AP)