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| Thomas Berryman (inset) pleaded guilty to threatening sheriff’s officers. | CPD: @TheAngus on Twitter |
An Uptown man who sparked a massive police and fire response after he threatened to shoot sheriff’s deputies who showed up at his door with an eviction notice has been sentenced to 18-months probation.
Thomas Berryman, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault of a peace officer and received the sentence from Judge Marvin Luckman.
On April 4, sheriff’s deputies went to Berryman’s apartment around 1:30 p.m. to serve court papers, but the situation escalated when Berryman threatened to shoot them and anyone who approached the building, according to police. A Chicago police SWAT team was dispatched, and the incident was resolved without injury by 3 p.m.
On January 31, Berryman nearly lost a finger after a man he met online went wild in his apartment and severed his digit with a machete, according to a police report that Berryman filed at the time. Multiple witnesses called 911 to report seeing a naked and blood-covered man running down Irving Park Road shortly after 9 a.m. that day. Doctors at Thorek Hospital were able to re-attach his finger, police said at the time, but a booking report after the April incident noted that his finger was completely missing.
Berryman told police that he met a man by the name of “Teej” online and invited him to his apartment where “Teej” ingested methamphetamine. At some point, the offender brandished a large knife and chopped off one of Berryman’s fingers, police said.
“Teej” was described as a white man between 30- and 35-years-old, 6-feet tall, and 165 pounds with a brown backpack. He reportedly told police that “Teej” resembles Jesus Christ with a scruffy beard and brown hair.
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| Markus Turner (inset) received probation for his first robbery conviction and, now, boot camp for his second. |
A Rogers Park man who received probation for a 2015 robbery has now been sentenced to Cook County boot camp for his latest robbery conviction. Last September, cops searching near the Jarvis Red Line station for two robbery offenders, one of whom was described as black, fat, and shirtless, soon found a similar-appearing Markus Turner in the 7300 block of North Clark. The victim confirmed that Turner was one of the men who had just punched him repeatedly in the face and robbed him of his computer bag and schoolwork.
Turner pleaded guilty to robbery last week and was sentenced to boot camp instead of prison. Additional felony charges of aggravated battery and unlawful restraint were dropped in the plea deal overseen by Judge Earl Hoffenberg.
In 2016, Turner pleaded guilty to choking, punching, and robbing a man in the 7700 block of North Paulina on August 18, 2015. A judge previously sentenced him to no prison time and just two-years probation for that crime.
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| Brandon Taylor (inset) was arrested after a victim saw him burglarizing an apartment via remote security system. |
A five-time convicted burglar has pleaded guilty to two more burglaries in Lakeview and received an eleven-year Class X sentence in return.
Brandon Taylor, 46, pleaded guilty yesterday to burglarizing two high-rise apartments in the 3500 and 3400 blocks of North Lake Shore Drive in May 2015. Taylor was arrested after one of the victims saw him via a remote security system
Cops said they found Taylor sweating profusely while wearing a black winter hat and brown gloves on the 19th floor of the victim’s building. He claimed to be knocking on doors in search of a job. Taylor then dropped several pieces of jewelry on the floor while admitting, “alright, I’m stealing power tools and pipe, but I’m not going into any units.”
Among the items that police say they recovered from Taylor’s possession were: a Shell gift card, a MasterCard gift card, $100 cash, a plastic bag containing foreign currency, and a black digital camera. Recovered from the floor near Taylor were five rings, two cufflinks, two earrings, and a plastic bag containing 11 gems.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to eleven years of Class X felony time for the first case. State law requires at least 85% of Class X time to be served. He also received a concurrent term of five years prison plus one year of supervised release for the second case. He is being given 1,385 days of credit for time served awaiting the outcome of the cases. His parole date has not been set.
Taylor’s previous prison stints include three years for theft in 2012; 11 years for conspiracy to commit residential burglary in 1999; two concurrent nine-year terms for burglary in 1999; and five years for burglary in 1992.
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| Bennie Gholar (inset) was on parole when he wrestled a 68-year-old woman for her purse in Lincoln Park. |
• A 23-year-old man has been sentenced to three years in prison for robbing a 68-year-old tourist in the Halsted -Armitage shopping district on March 24. Bennie Gholar pleaded guilty to felony theft from a person and was handed the sentence by Judge Joseph Clapps.
Retail workers called 911 when they saw a Louisiana woman struggling with a man for her purse in the 1900 block of North Halsted Street, according to police. Video captured images of the attacker and cops immediately recognized him as Gholar, an Old Town resident who was on parole for Class X felony heroin distribution.
An investigative alert was issued for Gholar and officers caught up with him during routine patrol two days later. He was wearing the exact same jacket that the offender was wearing in the video footage, police say.
Police said Gholar is a documented member of the Mickey Cobras street gang. He was paroled in 2016 after serving half of a six-year sentence for the narcotics conviction. His parole date is set for September 24, 2020.
