A man who’s currently facing burglary charges for allegedly stealing packages in Lakeview earlier this year has even bigger problems to deal with after police recently recognized him as the person who robbed a CTA Red Line passenger on the North Side over a year ago.
In February, prosecutors charged Demetrius Robinson, 19, with burglary after a man who lives in an apartment building on the 700 block of West Belmont allegedly saw him and an accomplice raiding packages in the mailroom.
Robinson was carrying a backpack that contained items missing from open packages cops found in the mailroom, prosecutors said. According to the state, he ripped through boxes and took their contents while the accomplice worked as a lookout.
Now, prosecutors have charged Robinson with robbing a man on the Red Line near Thorndale on the evening of July 10, 2020.
During a bond court hearing this week, Assistant State’s Attorney Darryl Auguste said the victim was going home on the Red Line when two men boarded the train along the way.
Both men demanded the victim’s money while punching him in the face and body near the Thorndale station, according to Auguste and CPD records. They took his phone, credit cards, and headphones, then exited at the next stop.
Auguste said CTA surveillance cameras recorded the attack and investigators circulated images of the robbers to police across the city.
At least one of those officers recognized Robinson from an earlier arrest, so detectives included his picture in a photo line-up that they recently presented to the robbery victim. The victim picked Robinson out of the group, Auguste said.
Robinson has no adult felony convictions, but he was convicted as a juvenile of two robberies and a burglary in 2017.
Judge Charles Beach set bail at $50,000, meaning Robinson must post $5,000 to get out of jail. If he does post bond, he’ll be required to go onto electronic monitoring, Beach said.
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