A man charged with robbery and burglary following a break-in at a Loop restaurant on Friday is on parole for a 2018 armed robbery near the Belmont CTA station in Lakeview.
Xavier Lyons, 21, and two other people broke into The Gage, 24 South Michigan, around 5:55 a.m. Friday and made their way behind the bar, prosecutors said. The group started loading liquor into a trash can.
They all claimed to work at the restaurant when a delivery driver who frequently services the establishment confronted them, prosecutors said. The driver went outside and called 911.
He watched as Lyons and the others left the restaurant while pulling a trash can full of liquor bottles behind them, according to the allegations. Police arrested Lyons nearby, but the other two got away.
Judge Kelly McCarthy said Lyons is charged with burglary and armed robbery. She ordered him held in lieu of $75,000 with electronic monitoring. He must post a 10% deposit to get out of jail.
Lyons was released from prison on December 10 after serving about half of a six-year sentence that he received for robbing a woman in Lakeview on December 27, 2018.
Just before 3 p.m., Lyons approached a 27-year-old woman on the 3100 block of North Kenmore and demanded her phone at gunpoint. The woman did not turn over her phone, police said, but Lyons did get the victim’s debit card.
Responding officers searched the Belmont Red Line station and found Lyons matching the suspect’s description on a southbound train. The victim’s property was still in his hand as officers pulled him from the train, according to police. A pellet gun was allegedly recovered from his waistband.
One of the arresting officers was later recognized for his efforts in apprehending Lyons.
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