A convicted felon who broke into a Lakeview family’s home and hid in a 10-year-old’s bedroom as he tried to escape from cops during civil unrest last June has received a two-year sentence. But after getting credit for the time he spent in jail before pleading, 31-year-old Jeremy Ben walked out of prison on the same day he arrived last week.
Another man who allegedly trolled Lakeview with Ben early on June 1, 2020, has much bigger problems: He has been charged in federal court with having a gun that night.
Police were on their third night of handling widespread looting reports when a series of 911 calls reported suspicious activity near the three-way intersection of Belmont, Lincoln, and Ashland.
At 11:48 p.m. May 31, officers responded to a report of cars lined up with suspected looters outside the Target store at 3300 North Ashland. Officers found three vehicles parked in an alley near the store’s rear loading doors, a police spokesperson said. The cars sped away as cops approached.
Police pursued the cars, and three men jumped out of one vehicle and fled on foot near the intersection of Lincoln and Wellington moments later, said Sally Bown, a CPD public information officer.
Two of them were apprehended quickly after a short foot chase.
Police then conducted a yard-to-yard search for the third man — later identified by prosecutors as Ben. Cops eventually found him as he walked out of a home on the 1400 block of West Wellington, Bown said. According to a source, he had been hiding in a child’s room inside the home and even took time to make a phone call while he hunkered down.
Prosecutors charged him with criminal trespass to a residence while knowing persons are present and curfew violation.
“What’s disturbing is a home invasion charge wasn’t considered,” a source said last year. “You’d think a convicted felon breaking into a house and hiding in a child’s room would be serious.”
Ben’s arrest came less than four months after being released from prison after serving half of a 21-year sentence he received for armed robbery with a firearm.
Last week, Ben struck a deal with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to criminal trespass to a residence in exchange for a two-year sentence. After receiving the state’s standard 50% sentence reduction and credit for 387 days he sat in jail, Ben was released from Stateville prison shortly after he arrived last Thursday, records show.
Meanwhile, one of the other men that police arrested with Ben is facing federal gun charges of being a felon in possession of a defaced firearm. Ricky L. Green, 26, was initially charged in state court, but federal prosecutors decided to take over in August.
Green has two previous gun convictions in the state and was on parole for one of those crimes when he was arrested last year. The federal case is still pending.
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