Three men, one on probation and all on affordable bail for pending felony cases, are facing gun and auto theft charges after one of them allegedly stole a Cadillac from a West Loop restaurant valet stand Saturday evening. The men were arrested after the stolen SUV crashed into other cars in Cicero while a police helicopter hovered overhead.
Prosecutors charged Charles Monroe, 18, with felony unlawful use of a weapon and criminal trespass to vehicle. He was out on a recognizance bond for another gun case at the time of Saturday’s incident. Prosecutors said he also has a juvenile gun conviction.
Tyler Baggett, 20, faces the same charges. He is on probation for narcotics, and on bond for a pending narcotics case, prosecutors said. He has two juvenile convictions.
Jerrell Kemp, 21, is charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle and criminal trespass to vehicle. He was on bond for a manufacture-delivery charge and was convicted of unlawful use of a weapon in 2018.
“Eighteen years of age, Mr. Monroe. Twenty years of age, Mr. Baggett. Twenty-one, Mr. Kemp,” Judge David Navarro said after hearing the state’s allegations. “All young men on bond or on probation. Armed. Stealing vehicles. Posing a threat to the safety of this community.”
According to police records and allegations made during a bond hearing Sunday, a valet driver pulled the victim’s car up to the front of a restaurant on the 400 block of North Halsted around 5:15 p.m. Saturday and then stepped into the eatery to get the vehicle’s owner and her family. He didn’t leave the keys inside the Cadillac Escalade, according to police, but the SUV was still running.
That’s when Kemp got out of a passing car and jumped behind the wheel of the Cadillac, Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Bagnowski said. Kemp allegedly drove off with the SUV as the car he arrived in led the way.
Sometime in the next 40 minutes, Baggett and Monroe joined Kemp in the Cadillac, which a police helicopter located with the help of OnStar, Bagnowski continued. He said the helicopter shadowed the SUV from overhead while police ground units followed it without activating any emergency equipment.
The stolen car crashed in the 1200 block of South 59th Avenue in Cicero a few minutes later, according to Bagnowski and a CPD spokesperson. All three occupants ran from the car.
As Monroe and Baggett ran, each threw loaded handguns into gangways, Bagnowski said. The one Monroe tossed was allegedly equipped with a switch that converts it to automatic fire.
Bagnowski said Kemp “made admissions” to police.
Judge Navarro ordered all three men held without bail for violating the terms of bond in their pending felonies. In the new case, he set bail for Monroe at $50,000 and bail for the other two at $100,000. They’ll need to post 10% of those amounts to get out of jail, should they become eligible for release.
“$10,000?” Kemp asked Navarro.
“$10,000 to walk. That’s what I said,” the judge replied.
“Damn,” Kemp muttered as Navarro called his next case.
Saturday’s auto theft took place about a block from where a driver was carjacked at gunpoint last weekend — a crime that was seen on video broadcast by WGN.
In that case, two men displayed at least one handgun and took a delivery driver’s Range Rover on the 500 block of North Halsted shortly after noon on February 27, according to police. A second victim was also robbed.
No one has been charged in connection with those crimes.
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