Camron King has been very busy since going home on electronic monitoring (EM) for allegedly carjacking a woman at gunpoint in Old Town during the summer of 2019. He allegedly cut off his ankle monitor, went to Nebraska, got arrested twice, did jail time there, rounded out his facial tattoo collection, and had two kids.
On Friday, the 20-year-old was back in a Cook County courtroom for the first time in 18 months to face escape charges.
He and his alleged accomplice, Isaiah Jackson, 21, are accused of confronting a woman as she loaded groceries into her car at Jewel Osco, 424 West Division, on July 23, 2019.
The carjackers got into the woman’s Audi to drive away but fled on foot when a security guard intervened, according to a police report.
Chicago police released surveillance images of two suspects shortly after the carjacking. King turned himself in to Matteson police, and CPD officers arrested Jackson in Avondale.
Judge Charles Beach set King’s bail at $30,000 with “EM” at a hearing on July 28, 2019. King went home on electronic monitoring September 14, 2020, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said Friday.
“He lasted about a month,” Murphy summarized.
On October 16, 2020, sheriff’s investigators went to the home where King was supposed to stay after they received a “strap tamper” alert, an indication that the band on King’s ankle monitor was being manipulated, Murphy said.
King wasn’t there and his aunt, who was “hosting” King, said she hadn’t seen him since the day before.
Investigators tracked King’s ankle monitor via GPS to the 6000 block of South Worcester.
“They were hoping to find the defendant there,” Murphy told Judge Maryam Ahmad. “They were half correct. They found the GPS bracelet on the ground. The defendant was not there.”
King’s ankle monitor “appeared to have been sawed off with a metal cutting tool,” Murphy continued.
Less than two months later, King was arrested in Nebraska for felony assault by strangulation and misdemeanor domestic battery, according to Murphy. Nebraska authorities released him to await trial, and he picked up another misdemeanor assault case, Murphy said.
In November, King was sentenced on both Nebraska cases, and he was turned over to Cook County officials this month.
Assistant Public Defender Brenda Pacouloute said King has two children — ages one month and two months — and lives with his girlfriend.
Judge Ahmad set bail at $500,000 on the escape charge, meaning King must post $50,000 to be released in the case. However, she also ordered him held without bail in the hijacking case.
Jackson, King’s co-defendant, continues to fight the hijacking allegations. He is due back in court on February 1.
