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| Cops say Preston Gresham (inset) is the man seen on surveillance video after recent Loop robberies. | CPD |
A 57-year-old convicted felon who’s awaiting trial for allegedly robbing a Berwyn fast food restaurant is now charged with holding up two Michigan Avenue boutiques and a Loop Dunkin’ Donuts, police said. Court records show the Loop robberies began just days after the suspect’s girlfriend asked a court to revoke his bail and return the money she put down to free him.
Preston Gresham was arrested around 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday after he allegedly robbed a donut shop at 400 South Financial Place in the Loop. Detectives soon determined that he was also the man they had featured in two community alerts about boutique robberies on Michigan Avenue this month.
Today, he was charged with three counts of armed robbery with a firearm. A judge ordered him held without bail.
Last October, Gresham was charged with robbing a suburban KFC restaurant of $179 at gunpoint. He was charged with three counts of Class X felony armed robbery with a firearm, three counts of aggravated robbery and violation of bail bond. His girlfriend posted 10% of his $100,000 bail and Gresham went free.
Late last month, the girlfriend asked the court to revoke Gresham’s bail and to return her money because he had allegedly battered her. The court agreed on March 1, and a warrant was issued for Gresham’s arrest.
Four days later, he allegedly robbed a boutique in the 300 block of North Michigan Avenue while displaying a handgun in his waistband. Two days after that, he robbed another boutique on the same block using the same technique, police said.
Court records show that Gresham pleaded guilty to nine armed robberies in Chicago in 1998. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for each case, but the judge ordered the sentences to be served concurrently and Gresham was discharged from parole in 2012.
