Man In Prison For Bolingbrook Armed Robbery Charged With Similar Crime In Woodridge
(CBS) -- An 18-year-old man already recently sent to prison on robbery and armed robbery charges in Bolingbrook has been charged with a virtually identical carjacking incident in Woodridge.
In both cases, the attacker tried to cover his face with a scarf. In both, he confronted women with children in the back seat. In both, he pulled a knife and demanded money. In Woodridge last April 26, prosecutors said, suspect John A. Smith allegedly forced his way into the car in a supermarket parking lot, forced the woman at knifepoint to drive to a bank, and took $145 from her before disappearing on foot. In the Bolingbrook incident that led to his arrest 11 days later, Smith bludgeoned the woman in an Olive Garden parking lot until the woman's mother threw her purse out of the car, with credit cards and cell phone, allowing them to get away. Smith was arrested several hours later after changing has clothes when he tried to use one of the stolen credit cards at a gas station in Oswego. An officer on patrol spotted a teen matching the description provided by Bolingbrook police and took him into custody.
Will County State's Attorney's office spokesman Charles Pelkie said that Smith in January entered a guilty plea to charges of robbery and armed robbery in the Bolingbrook incident and was sentenced to concurrent terms totaling 13-1/2 years.
Woodridge Police confirmed that Smith had been a suspect for months in the supermarket incident. A DuPage County judge ordered Smith held without bail on the latest charges.
A police source told WBBM that there were a series of similar crimes in the west and southwest suburbs over a two-week period in April and May of 2014. Prosecutors would not say if additional charges are likely.