A North Side carjacking victim was able to identify the man who violently took his minivan because he “will never forget that face,” police said.
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| Rodriguez’s unforgettable face | Cook Co. Sheriff |
33-year-old Rikki “Little Rec” Rodriguez of Edgewater is charged with Class X aggravated vehicular hijacking in the case, which played out in the West Ridge neighborhood late Saturday night into early Sunday.
A 63-year-old Andersonville man told police that Rodriguez shoved him out of his silver minivan while armed with a baseball bat near the 5700 block of North Lincoln.
While the victim was filing a report in the 20th District police station, dispatchers began receiving reports of a suspicious person matching the carjacker’s description near the crime scene. Rodriguez was found peering into windows “with long curly hair and tattoos about his face,” cops said.
“I didn’t do anything,” Rodriguez reportedly said. “I’m only taking a piss.”
But when cops asked the carjacking victim to take a look at Rodriguez, the man was confident that officers had the right guy.
“That’s him with the long hair and tattoos. I will never forget his face,” the man said.
In 2011, Rodriguez was given a six-year sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm after he threatened five Target store workers who tried to stop him from stealing a pair of headphones in Logan Square. Rodriguez escaped from the store but was arrested ten days later after the store employees—easily remembering his distinctive face—picked him out of a photo array.
A judge set his bail at $350,000. Cops say Rodriguez is a member of the Latin Kings street gang.
