Prosecutors say a man who’s on parole for his third robbery conviction robbed a woman near the Loyola Red Line station last week.
“But I never robbed nobody. That’s the crazy thing about it,” Michael Fisher, age 42, told Judge David Navarro during a bond court hearing Friday.
“OK. Then, that’s what trials are for,” Navarro replied.
A woman reportedly told police that a man confronted her on the street after she withdrew three $20 bills from an ATM on the 6500 block of North Sheridan around 9 p.m. on August 15.
The man put his arm up to block her path and, when she denied having any money, the man “specifically demanded the three 20s,” Assistant State’s Attorney John Gnilka said. The woman gave him the cash.
She noticed that he had a distinct limp as he walked away and jumped a fence to get into the Loyola CTA, Gnilka said. Surveillance videos show the offender walking behind the woman and later walking around the train station, according to Gnilka.
Loyal University police officers reviewed images from those videos and recognized Fisher from previous contacts with him, Gnilka said. On Thursday, Loyola officers were on patrol when they spotted Fisher walking near campus and took him into custody after a short foot pursuit. Gnilka said Fisher was wearing the same distinctive pair of jogging pants as the robber when he was arrested.
The victim could not pick Fisher out of a photo line-up, but she did eliminate all five of the other photos that detectives presented to her, Gnilka said.
Fisher is charged with robbery and misdemeanor resisting.
Records show he was paroled on June 30 after serving half of a six-year sentence for robbery that he received in 2018. CPD records indicate he was arrested at the Howard Red Line station that time. He previously received two two-year sentences for attempted robberies in 2016.
Assistant Public Defender Suzin Farber said Fisher is homeless and suffers from depression.
Judge Navarro ordered him held without bail while the state reviews his parole status. Bond in the new robbery case was set at $50,000. Fisher is due back in court on August 27.