Jaheim McQuay got a second chance. And may have blown it.
In January, he was among three people charged with robbing and battering a pregnant woman and her friend at the Roosevelt Red Line station.
In June, prosecutors agreed to drop the robbery count and allowed the 19-year-old to take a sentence of probation on a lesser charge.
Less than a month later, McQuay and another man robbed a convenience store in Boystown, prosecutors said during a bond court hearing Wednesday. A judge ordered him held without bail.
CTA attack
Police in early January released CTA surveillance images of six attackers who battered and robbed the four-months-pregnant woman and her friend at the Roosevelt station a few days earlier. The offenders punched and kicked the victims in their chests, heads, and necks. Both victims were treated at Mercy Hospital and released.
During the melee, a member of the mob took one of the victims’ phones and allegedly handed it to McQuay.
Two girls, ages 15 and 16, turned themselves in the day after cops released the CTA surveillance images. Cops arrested McQuay about a week later when they recognized him at the Chicago-State Red Line station.
Prosecutors charged McQuay with felony robbery, felony aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, and two felony counts of aggravated battery in a public place.
In June, they reached a plea deal with McQuay in which he took a sentence of probation, and the state dropped all of the charges except one count of aggravated battery in a public place.
7-Eleven Robbery
Around 3:45 a.m. on July 21, two men walked into the 7-Eleven store at 3407 North Halsted in the heart of Boystown. One of them, identified by prosecutors as McQuay, gathered a few items and walked around the store.
The clerk got suspicious and asked a co-worker to join him at the registers.
That’s when the second man held his hand in his waistband, went behind the counter, and ordered the workers to “keep doing what you’re doing or someone’s going to get shot,” prosecutors said.
The man took liquor, cigarettes, and “male enhancement pills” from behind the counter as he talked with McQuay, according to prosecutors. Both men then walked out of the store — McQuay took food items and some enhancement pills for himself, according to the allegations.
Police used the store’s surveillance images to create an internal bulletin, and three cops who’ve had previous contact with McQuay recognized him, prosecutors said Wednesday. Both store clerks also picked McQuay out of a photo line-up.
Investigators arrested McQuay this week.
He’s now charged with aggravated robbery and violation of probation. Judge Mary Marubio ordered him held without bail for violating the terms of his plea agreement. She set bail in the new case at $50,000 and ordered him to go onto electronic monitoring if he becomes eligible for release.
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