It’s been six months since a Florida tourist in Boystown refused to press robbery charges against Derrick Robie. Since then, the 20-year-old pride of Dolton, IL, has been arrested repeatedly for weapons and theft charges along the LGBTQ bar strip.
Late Monday night, cops stopped Robie on Halsted Street in Boystown because they had been told by a detective that he was wanted for an armed robbery on the Morse Red Line station platform, according to court records.
According to prosecutors, Robie approached a 27-year-old Rogers Park resident at the Morse station around 3:30 a.m. on January 8 and asked for money. When the man refused, Robie lifted his shirt and displayed the grip of a handgun in his waistband, police said.
Faced with the threat of being shot, the victim opened his wallet and Robie used one hand to take the victim’s money while keeping his other hand on his waistband, according to court records.
Robie was charged with armed robbery with a firearm on Tuesday.
Despite the facts that Robie is charged a Class X violent crime; that he has a pending court case for sale or possession of a weapon; and the fact that he has previously jumped bail on an assault charge, Cook County Judge Stephanie Miller ordered him released on electronic monitoring with a $50,000 recognizance bond.
In June, a 22-year-old college student from Florida told police that Robie shoved the victim into a wall near Halsted and Belmont, pressed a knife to his stomach, and said, “Gimme the phone, you know what this is.”
Cops said they recovered a knife from Robie that the victim identified as the weapon used in the hold-up, but the man refused to press robbery charges because he lives so far away. Robie was convicted of sale or possession of a weapon.
One week after the Florida man accused him of robbery, Robie was arrested in Boystown and charged with theft for allegedly knocking a 60-year-old beggar’s change cup from his hand and stealing money at Halsted and Roscoe. Charges were dropped when the victim failed to show up in court.
