Sentences have been handed down in three robbery cases that we told you about in recent months. Punishments range from three- to eight-years. Here are the details:
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| Raymond Bensfield pleaded guilty to robbing this Walgreens at 3201 North Broadway. | CPD; Google |
Raymond Bensfield, 42, charged with robbing a Boystown Walgreens on January 10, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of retail theft in exchange for a three-year sentence from Judge Catherine Haberkorn.
Bensfield had been out of prison for just five days when he walked into the store at 3201 North Broadway 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.
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, grabbed 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.
Bensfield is scheduled to be paroled on July 10, 2020.
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| Daniel Vargas was convicted of robbing a cab driver near the Sedgwick Brown Line station. | CPD; Google |
• Daniel Vargas, 22, received a six-year sentence from Judge Earl Hoffenberg after pleading guilty to robbing a cab driver in Old Town last November. His parole date is set for November 9, 2020.
Vargas was riding in a cab through Old Town when he asked to be dropped off in the 1500 block of North Sedgwick, near the Sedgwick Brown Line station, prosecutors said. When the cabbie asked to be paid, Vargas allegedly pulled out a knife and pushed it into the driver’s back while demanding money. The 36-year-old driver gave Vargas $92 and pointed out that the incident was being recorded on a camera.
Vargas proceeded to pull the video camera out of the car and run away, police said. But he didn’t get too far. Two Good Samaritans who saw the whole thing go down captured Vargas and held him for cops.
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| O’Neal | CPD |
• Brian O’Neal just received his thirteenth adult felony conviction after pleading guilty to robbing an Edgewater Walgreens at gunpoint in late December. Judge William O’Brien sentenced him to eight years in prison.
O’Neal brandished a gun and robbed the Walgreens at 5625 North Ridge around 2 a.m. on December 28th, police said. Cops caught him minutes later at the Bryn Mawr Red Line station. Officers who searched O’Neal found a starter pistol as well as three drivers licenses belonging to people who had been robbed elsewhere in the city last year, according to prosecutors.
State records show that O’Neal previously served time for escaping electronic monitoring; retail theft (seven times); narcotics (three times); and robbery. His next parole date has not been set.
