CHICAGO — Prosecutors say an 87-year-old Chicago man was robbed of $600 that he borrowed to take a bus to Florida for his grandson’s funeral. On Friday, they charged a 23-year-old with participating in the crime.
On January 30, the victim went to a West Englewood store with the borrowed money and $40 of his own cash. He had previously used the store’s services to send money to his daughter, so he went there hoping to buy a Greyhound bus ticket to Florida for the funeral, according to prosecutors.
Surveillance video showed that two men who would later rob the victim, 23-year-old William Green and an unidentified co-offender, were already in the store when he arrived, officials said during Green’s bail hearing Friday.
When the store manager could not help the man with his transaction, she suggested that Green, the other man, and a third person who was with them might be able to assist.
According to prosecutors, the store video showed Green and the other men talking with the 87-year-old and milling about, but the victim eventually rode away on his bike. Additional video allegedly showed Green and one of the other men leaving the store in a blue SUV and catching up with the victim nearby.
The other man got out and confronted the victim nearby. Surveillance footage showed the victim swinging at the other man, who pushed him to the ground, then swung at his face several times as the victim tried to kick him, prosecutors said. Green exited the driver’s side and stood over the victim’s legs as the other man continued swinging at the victim and was seen picking something up from the ground next to the victim, according to the allegations. Prosecutors said the $640 that the victim took to the store was gone when the men left.
Medical records show that the victim suffered a broken nose and a deformity to his orbital wall, prosecutors said.
Coincidentally, when Green was arrested last month on allegations that he battered a Chicago police officer, he was wearing the same Hilfiger t-shirt that he wore at the store and during the attack, prosecutors alleged.
He has three felony convictions in his background: a gun charge in 2017, robbery in 2018, and possessing a stolen motor vehicle last year, officials said.
Representing Green on Friday, Assistant Public Defender Catherine Stockslager argued that, while unnamed witnesses allegedly identified Green from surveillance images, the victim did not.
She said Green is a regular churchgoer who works two jobs to support his five children, including a newborn.
Judge David Kelly ordered Green to pay a $7,500 bail deposit to go home on electronic monitoring. He is charged with robbery of a person older than 60, aggravated battery of a person older than 60, and aggravated battery in a public place.
