Prosecutors on Saturday said a man used Facebook Marketplace to lure a victim into an armed robbery and carjacking trap while on electronic monitoring for an attempted murder in which he allegedly tried to shoot a Cook County sheriff’s deputy.
Judge Charles Beach agreed to hold Dewon Cathion, 21, without bail on charges of vehicular hijacking and armed robbery at the request of prosecutors.
Cathion is awaiting trial on two counts of attempted murder and other felonies in connection with a November 26, 2020, shooting on the West Side. A Cook County sheriff’s deputy was in uniform, but driving his personal car, when two men opened fire on him from another vehicle near a gas station on the 3000 block of West Van Buren, according to a CPD report.
Prosecutors charged Cathion about a month later and Judge Arthur Willis held him in lieu of $1 million, court records show. But Judge Adrienne Davis reduced Cathion’s bail to $750,000 with electronic monitoring five weeks later.
Court files show Davis noted her order allowed “NO MOVEMENT” and separately noted “WITH 24/7 NO MOVEMENT.” Cathion went home on an ankle monitor after posting a $75,000 deposit toward his bail on May 3, 2021.
Prosecutors now say he left his house on the afternoon of February 22 to rob and carjack a man.
Cathion allegedly met the victim on the West Side after agreeing to purchase some shoes and a sweater via Facebook. The seller arrived in his 2018 Alfa Romeo and Cathion approached with another man, prosecutors said.
After some back-and-forth, the man who was allegedly with Cathion pointed a gun at the victim’s chest and ordered him out of his car. Cathion took the shoes and sweater from the vehicle’s back seat, then told his accomplice to drive the Alfa Romeo away, prosecutors said.
Cathion allegedly fled the scene on foot while the other man sped away with the victim’s car.
Police linked Cathion to the robbery and hijacking through Facebook and Cash App records. They also determined that Cathion’s GPS-equipped ankle monitor left his home shortly before the robbery, traveled to within a block of the hold-up scene, and then returned to Cathion’s house after the crime, prosecutors said.
The victim picked a different man out a photo line-up, but prosecutors said Cathion has a distinct J-shaped scar on his right hand that the victim described to police shortly after the robbery.
Private defense attorney Nathaniel Nieson argued against the state’s no-bail request by pointing to the victim’s misidentification and imprecise GPS data.
But Beach, the judge, said the distinct scar and linkage through electronic records convinced him that no-bail was appropriate. Beach also ordered Cathion held without bail for violating the terms of release in the pending attempted murder case.
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