Chicago — Two men charged with robbing and stabbing a man on the Grand Red Line station platform spent Christmas night in jail. One of the men is on parole for participating in another robbery at a Chicago train station almost exactly one year ago.
Joshua Harris, 27, and Jonathan Lenon, 31, saw the 43-year-old victim on the platform around 3:40 a.m. Saturday and called him over to sell him drugs, prosecutors said. After selling the man a “small amount” of an unspecified drug, the men asked the victim to buy more, an assistant state’s attorney said during a bail hearing Sunday.
When the victim declined, Harris and Lenon grabbed him. Lenon cut the victim on the right arm with a knife and slammed him into a wall, the prosecutor said. After the victim dropped to the ground, Lenon and a third offender allegedly went through his pockets, taking a phone and $30 to $40 cash. The third robber has not been found.
The victim ran away and asked a CTA employee for help. Chicago police, guided by a surveillance camera operator, located Harris and Lenon inside the station, prosecutors said. Police allegedly recovered the victim’s phone and two knives from Lenon.
Doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital stitched the victim’s wound closed.
Lenon, who has four felony convictions, is charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery. Harris is charged with armed robbery.
Judge Charles Beach told Lenon and Harris that it was his “inclination” to hold them without bail, but he could not do that because prosecutors did not ask him to. Instead, Beach ordered each man to post $50,000 toward bail to get out on electronic monitoring.
Harris pleaded guilty to unlawful restraint this summer in exchange for a one-year sentence in a robbery case, according to court records. In that matter, Harris allegedly asked to use a CTA passenger’s phone on the Clinton Blue Line station platform, then took the phone and punched the victim in his head and body when the man refused to hand it over.
After pleading to the lesser charge of unlawful restraint, Harris reported to Stateville prison on June 28. He was released on July 13 after receiving credit for the time he spent in county jail and a 50% sentence reduction for good behavior.
Beach said the Illinois Department of Corrections would review Harris’ parole status in light of the new allegations.
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