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| Raymond Bensfield (inset) robbed a Boystown Walgreens less than a week after going free on parole, cops say. |
Last Friday, Raymond Bensfield walked out of the Lawrence Correctional Center after serving half of two concurrent four-year sentences for robbing retail stores in Lakeview East and nearby Lincoln Park.
On Wednesday, he was in jail again—accused once again of robbing a store in Lakeview East.
Police say the 42-year-old neighborhood nuisance walked into Walgreens at 3201 North Broadway around 10:55 a.m. Wednesday and tried to walk out with two large bottles of booze. Security approached Bensfield, who responded by swinging a bottle at them and threatening to throw it, police said. One bottle crashed to the floor and Bensfield fled.
Cops caught up with him in the 600 block of West Belmont a few seconds later. He’s charged with robbery and resisting police. He’s being held without bail.
In January 2016, Bensfield walked into the 7-Eleven at 2619 N. Clark Street and claimed to have a gun as he took five packs of Marlboros and two bottles of Jack Daniel’s.
The next morning, he walked into the Walgreens at 2817 N. Clark, took a bottle of Jägermeister, and then claimed to have a gun when an employee confronted him.
He was sentenced to four-years in prison for each case, to be served concurrently. His previous convictions include six-years for robbery in 2010 and three years for arson in 1995.
Before his arrests for the two robberies in 2016, Bensfield collected a series of arrests for his alleged behavior in Lakeview East:
• On November 9, 2015, an employee of the now-defunct Market Place grocery store, 521 W. Diversey, claimed that Bensfield punched him in the face when he confronted Bensfield about allegedly stealing merchandise. Charges were dropped when the victim failed to show up in court, records show.
• On November 3, 2015, an employee of the 7-Eleven at Pine Grove and Diversey detained Bensfield for allegedly trying to shoplift a can of Steel Reserve Spiked Punch and a six pack of Fat Tire Amber Ale. These charges were also dropped because the witness did not appear in court.
• In July 2015, Bensfield received a 6-month sentence after he pleaded guilty to pulling a knife on an employee of Walmart Neighborhood Market, 2844 N. Broadway after the victim confronted Bensfield in an area that is reserved for employees.
