A man has been charged with robbing a 79-year-old woman on the Red Line last month and robbing a 78-year-old man near an ATM a few days earlier. Travoughntay Williams, 34, is charged with two counts of felony robbery.
If his name sounds familiar, it may be because we’ve reported on Williams before. He was on bail in July 2020 for twice attacking a Lakeview senior citizen when he was accused of punching a Walgreens employee in Streeterville and dragging her down an aisle by her hair.
We reported last year that he received probation for the Walgreens attack. Williams is still on probation, according to prosecutors.
At around 11:25 a.m. on July 5, Williams grabbed a 78-year-old man from behind in the 1700 block of West Morse after following the victim from a nearby ATM, officials said. The victim felt something sharp in his back as Williams told him to “hand it over,” prosecutor Tilesha Jackson alleged.
Surveillance video showed Williams sitting on a bench outside the bank as the victim made a withdrawal and grabbing the victim from behind, she said.
Four days later, on July 9, Williams robbed a 79-year-old woman of her purse at the Jarvis Red Line station, according to Jackson.
Chicago police issued a community alert about the CTA robber, and someone who knows Williams identified him from the bulletin, Jackson said.
Officers crossed paths with Williams on Wednesday and took him into custody.
Assistant Public Defender Suzin Farber said Williams has mental health concerns.
Judge Maryam Ahmad ordered him to pay a $30,000 deposit toward bail to get out of jail on electronic monitoring for the robbery cases. Separately, the judge held him without bail for violating the terms of his probation until the judge overseeing that case could review the new developments.
