Prosecutors say a man who hijacked a car in West Town on Tuesday afternoon was still wearing a ski mask when cops found him with the stolen car about an hour later.
Joshua Diaz, 23, is charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking and receiving-possessing a stolen motor vehicle.
The victim, 27, was unloading things from the trunk of his car on the 1900 block of West Thomas when a ski-masked man brandished a knife and ordered him to hand over his car keys around 1:30 p.m., according to police and Assistant State’s Attorney Sergio Gomez.
The masked man drove away with the car, but police were able to track it to Berwyn via an app on the victim’s phone, Gomez said. When officers rolled up on the car, they saw Diaz getting out of the vehicle while wearing the same clothes that the victim described to them. And, of course, he was still wearing the darned ski mask.
Cops also found a knife in the car’s center cup holder, Gomez said.
Diaz has never been arrested before. His public defender, Suzin Farber, said he works part-time for UPS.
Judge Susan Ortiz set bail at $200,000. He’s required to post 10% of that amount to go home on electronic monitoring.