There may be an exodus of Illinoisans leaving the state, but it isn’t as bad as what is happening in California. Even accused crooks are fleeing the Golden State.

Four Californians were indicted late last month by a Lake County grand jury on charges of felony retail theft. That was after they made off with some 100 pairs of Nike athletic shoes worth nearly $4,000 from a store at Gurnee Mills, authorities said.

The quartet must be part of the growing diaspora from California, which has seen three consecutive years of population decline, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Years of wildfires must be taking a toll on Californians.

Since 2020, California’s population has contracted by about a half-million people. Since 2000, California has lost well over 2 million people, the population of Chicago and St. Louis combined. In comparison, Illinois lost a mere 100,000 residents last year.

Even more want to leave California. A statewide poll found four in 10 California residents are considering moving out of the state, according to a USA Today story of June 28. One wag has suggested calling California the “See You Later State.”

The majority of the 1,300 Cali residents polled say one of the reasons driving out-migration is the cost of living. The high prices on the West Coast must also include athletic shoes, which is what apparently brought the displaced Californians to Lake County.

Perhaps they were searching for inexpensive Nikes, which allegedly were stuffed into bags as they raided the Mills store and made their getaway. Somebody spotted the license plate on their vehicle and gave it to Gurnee police.

The four alleged shoe thieves — Benjamin Mendoza-Cid, 26; Juan Aguirre-Cobos, 24; Lorenzo Deluna-Gomez, 39; and Yazmin Mendoza-Castro, 26 — were indicted June 28, according to the Lake County state’s attorney’s office.

Their bonds range from $50,000 to $75,000. They face arraignments July 11 before Lake County Associate Judge George Strickland, authorities reported.

The suspects were arrested by police, who used an automated license plate reader camera to snare them. Gurnee was one of the first Lake County communities to install the system last fall.

It is mainly used at the Gurnee Mills shopping destination. Since its installation, village police have recovered stolen vehicles and arrested alleged criminals, including the four would-be shoe shoplifters, by using the high-tech system.

The quartet are reverse migrants from a state known for welcoming all sorts. From the 1848 Gold Rush, to the Dust Bowl Okies of John Steinbeck’s Joad family, to Midwesterners who went West in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s seeking jobs in a booming economy, to new asylum-seekers, California was a people magnet.

No longer, though California remains the nation’s most-populous state, and is the largest economy in the U.S. It is poised to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, overtaking Germany, Bloomberg News reported.

But there are cracks in the Golden State’s bedrock. Florida’s population growth has been steady over the past decade; California’s not so much. The past years are the first time California officials have seen rising out-migration.

Arizona and Nevada have been the beneficiaries of California’s population collapse. Hopefully, the exodus will come to a halt.

That would ensure Illinois doesn’t get an influx of out-of-state crooks coming to the Land of Lincoln. We have enough of our homegrown grifters.

Data suggests two reasons Californians are leaving: Living conditions and the high-cost of housing. Nearly one third of all people who are homeless in the U.S. live in the California, according to a study by the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness, which was released last month. The study cites the lack of affordable housing for many state residents is chief cause of become unsheltered.

An aunt, uncle and three cousins joined the Illinois exit to California in the ‘50s, trading Waukegan for a change of scenery and better jobs. They were lured by a lifestyle displayed by “77 Sunset Strip,” where hipsters drove Ford convertibles and drank and dined at swanky nightclubs like Dino’s Lodge, next to the Bailey and Spencer private detective agency.

A lifestyle which embodied heading to the beach seduced by laid-back surf sounds, a grand car culture and 1967’s Summer of Love. California then was that El Dorado everyone was searching for, a land of milk and honey.

My relatives soon learned sunshine and opportunity in Southern California didn’t come cheap, even back then. They left for a San Francisco suburb. In the end, they ended up bolting Cali and moving to Arizona.

They were ahead of the curve on that one.

Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.

sellenews@gmail.com Twitter @sellenews