Say “hello” to Roger Lakes. Again.
You may remember our story about the time he and two other men chased a man down in June 2014, beat him brutally, robbed him, and left the victim lying with a head injury under the Red Line tracks in the middle of Belmont Avenue. The victim remained down in the street until a passing police unit found him.
Lakes received a four-year prison sentence for robbery and aggravated battery.
But he got out of prison after serving half of that time and got arrested again in November 2016 for selling crack to an undercover cop near Truman College.
One year later, while free on bail for the narcotics case, Lakes beat and robbed another victim outside Alderman Tom Tunney’s flagship Ann Sather restaurant just steps from the Belmont Red Line station.
Lakes pleaded guilty and received a five-year sentence for robbery that he served concurrently with a five-year sentence for the drug dealing charge.
But, of course, he got out of prison last August after serving only half of that time.
Now, Lakes has been arrested again. At the Belmont Red Line station. Again.
Prosecutors say Lakes, 26, snatched an iPhone from a 51-year-old woman’s hand as they rode a Red Line train around 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 28. Lakes tried to run from the train with the woman’s phone, but a 49-year-old man and other CTA passengers grabbed Lakes and held him until police arrived.
He is now charged with felony theft.
After considering Lakes’ background, including the fact that he is still on parole for a violent robbery and dealing drugs, Judge Arthur Willis released him on his own recognizance. Lakes is due back in court on Feb. 18.
