CHICAGO — Prosecutors yesterday accused a second man of participating in the group robbery of a downtown Chicago store that resulted in a cashier being stabbed this spring.
Christopher Peters, 19, was on bail for a pending stolen motor vehicle case, on juvenile parole for a Will County burglary, and on juvenile probation for possessing a stolen motor vehicle when he helped rob Americana Submarine and Tobacco Shop, 400 South Clark, around 5:20 a.m. on April 20, Assistant State’s Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said.
During Peters’ bail hearing on Wednesday afternoon, Scaduto told Judge David Kelly that Peters entered the store with several other people, including 18-year-old Treyvon Brown. Prosecutors charged Brown last month.
When the clerk went to grab an item that a member of the group expressed an interest in buying, the mob started running out with the store’s merchandise.
During the mayhem, Brown jumped behind the counter and grabbed some tobacco products while three or four accomplices pushed the employee, according to Scaduto. Someone in the group—but not Brown or Peters—stabbed the cashier in the head and arm, causing him to lose a lot of blood.
Peters stole two Gatorades during the raid and tried to take cash from the register, but Brown had already taken the money, according to Scaduto.
CTA video showed the group boarding a Red Line train at Jackson with items taken from the store, including lottery tickets, cash, and tobacco.
She said Chicago police officers recognized Peters and Brown from surveillance images of the crew. Police have been looking for Peters for a while. They found him in the Cook County jail. He had been there since April 24 after getting scooped up on a warrant because he stopped showing up in court for the stolen motor vehicle case.
Judge David Kelly ordered him to pay a $50,000 bail deposit to be released on electronic monitoring.
Kelly is also the judge who set bail for Peters in the stolen car case in January, Scaduto said. In that matter, Peters is accused of taking car keys from a woman’s home and driving away with her vehicle.
On January 11, Kelly allowed Peters to reside on electronic monitoring at a sober living facility without posting monetary bail. Peters jumped a fence at the facility and escaped a month later, according to Scaduto.
After police caught him again, a different judge ordered him held without bail and not to be placed on the sheriff’s electronic monitoring program again. But on March 21, the judge released him on his own recognizance with an ankle monitor from the court-operated electronic monitoring program, Scaduto said.
He failed to show up in court on April 11 and allegedly robbed the Americana Submarine and Tobacco Shop.
Information about which judge placed him on electronic monitoring after he was ordered not to be released on electronic monitoring was not immediately available.