CHICAGO — Last Friday, Jamal Moore received probation after pleading guilty to burglary for trying to steal a Kia last summer with his friend, Rashaad Walker.
Almost exactly 72 hours after Moore entered his plea, he and Walker were arrested together again, accused of home invasion and attempted armed robbery of a family on Memorial Day.
Both men earned serious juvenile records before they became adults, officials said as they appeared together in bond court on the new charges Tuesday.
“It is only by some blessing of God that no one has gotten killed yet,” remarked Judge Kelly McCarthy before ordering them held on substantial bail.
Kia Boys
Chicago police arrested Moore and Walker early on August 30 last year after a woman found Moore banging on the steering column of her Hyundai Santa Fe with a screwdriver, according to a CPD report. Walker, police said, was “acting as security for” Moore.
Walker was also accused of pointing a handgun at the car’s owner when she interrupted them. He pleaded guilty to possessing burglary tools on March 23, received a two-year sentence from Judge Laura Ayala-Gonzalez, and was paroled a few weeks later on May 11.
Moore pleaded guilty to burglary on Friday. Ayala-Gonzalez sentenced him to two years of “second chance probation” and 50 hours of community service. The case could be expunged from his record if he successfully completed the sentence.
He made it all of 72 hours.
A day to remember
Five people were home in the 5500 block of West Augusta on Monday afternoon when one went to the alley to get something from his van.
There, Moore approached him from behind and put a gun to his ribs while Walker went through his pockets, prosecutors Sarah Dale-Schmidt alleged Tuesday.
As the robbery unfolded, another resident walked up and saw what was happening.
The man being robbed bolted into the home’s basement with Moore, holding a firearm, in hot pursuit, Dale-Schmidt said.
The witness ran to the home’s second floor as the first man hid in a bathroom.
Moore couldn’t get past the stairwell. Security video showed him leaving the scene with Walker. The footage also recorded Walker telling Moore to “blow them away if they say anything,” according to Dale-Schmidt.
She said Chicago police arrested Moore and Walker hours later after seeing them in the 5000 block of West Division wearing the same distinctive clothing worn during the crime. Moore allegedly had a loaded black handgun with an extended magazine visibly sticking out of a crossbody bag.
Prosecutors charged Moore with attempted armed robbery, attempted home invasion with a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and resisting police.
Walker is charged with attempted robbery and resisting police.
Juvenile histories
Officials said Walker was adjudicated delinquent for robbing a pizza delivery driver at gunpoint and robbing and carjacking another pizza driver.
When the second driver didn’t return home from work, his girlfriend called his phone to see where he was. Dale-Schmidt said whoever answered told the woman that they had robbed her boyfriend and killed him. He had, in fact, not been killed.
Moore was adjudicated delinquent for aggravated battery of a victim over age 60 and unlawful use of a weapon, a case for which he is still on probation.
Both men are juniors in high school and each has one child, said their defense attorney.
McCarthy, the judge, seemed taken aback by their backgrounds and the fact that Moore was arrested three days after pleading guilty to another felony.
“It’s clear to this court that you have no intention on stopping, so the bond is going to reflect that for the safety of the community,” McCarthy told the men.
“And I will just say, at the age of 18, you present in court with more violent, dangerous history than most of the people that appear before his court,” she continued.
Walker must post a $50,000 bail deposit to be released. Moore will have to post $75,000. McCarthy ordered them to go on electronic monitoring if they put down the cash.