CHICAGO — A judge set bail at $175,000 for a man accused of being part of a Divvy-riding robbery crew in downtown Chicago. He is the third person charged so far with crimes related to the month-long crime pattern.
Servontis Hodge, 19, participated in two robberies about 45 minutes apart on July 7, Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Dale-Schmidt said during his bail hearing yesterday.
The group first targeted a 45-year-old man as he walked to his car in the 100 block of North State around 1 a.m. Hodge was among “multiple” robbers who surrounded the victim on Divvy bikes, according to Dale-Schmidt. She said Hodge pointed a silver revolver at the victim as everyone in the crew demanded the man’s money.
The victim handed his wallet toward Hodge, and another robber grabbed it from his hand, she said. Then, the group Divvied away.
About 45 minutes later, a 34-year-old man saw a group of people riding Divvy bikes in circles in the middle of the street near the Daley Center as he walked home from the gym. They surrounded him.
Dale-Schmidt said Hodge demanded the man’s backpack while a 17-year-old accomplice brandished a handgun. The accomplice was charged with the crime earlier this week.
The victim handed the group his backpack containing his phone, wallet, and computer. They threatened him not to call the police because they knew what he looked like, Dale-Schmidt alleged.
CTA surveillance cameras recorded the robbers boarding a train at the State-Lake Red Line station about 15 minutes after the second robbery. Dale-Schmidt said they used the first victim’s credit card at a gas station near the 79th Street Red Line station a short time later.
Both victims allegedly identified Hodge in photo line-ups, but Dale-Schmidt didn’t say how police determined that Hodge was one of the robbers. He has no criminal background.
His defense attorney said he has been doing photography for two weeks in an After School Matters program. He’s now charged with two counts of armed robbery with a firearm.
If he can post the $17,500 bail deposit to get out of jail, he’ll be put on an ankle monitor, Judge Kelly McCarthy said.
Crime pattern
Chicago police have been warning about bike-riding robbers in the Loop since mid-June. According to CPD alerts, incidents have also been reported on these dates and times:
June 19
100 block of South State at 2:30 a.m.
June 26
600 block of South Plymouth at 5:20 a.m
600 block of South State at 5:30 a.m
first block of South Michigan at 5:35 a.m
1100 block of South Michigan at 5:50 a.m
1100 block of South Michigan at 6:00 a.m
1100 block of South Wabash at 6:50 a.m a.m
Police said the group consists of Black and Hispanic males between 15 and 25 years old who wear dark hoodies and ski masks.
Another man charged
Prosecutors have charged another man with the June 25 spree: Jorge Gonzales, a Chicago resident of just five months.
Gonzales, 23, and a man who remains at large rode bikes from one robbery to another in the Loop, with the accomplice displaying a silver revolver each time, Assistant State’s Attorney Victor Aberdeen said during Gonzales’ bail hearing on June 27.
They allegedly started by taking about $60 from a 27-year-old man in the 600 block of South State Street around 5:17 a.m.
Just a couple of minutes later, the accomplice fell off his bike in the 600 block of South Plymouth Court, and a 52-year-old woman came over to ask if he was OK. They robbed her, Aberdeen said. With the accomplice aiming his revolver at her, the woman replied that she didn’t have anything and then ran away.
The third robbery fizzled, too. Aberdeen said Gonzales and the accomplice pedaled up to a 36-year-old man near Madison and Michigan around 5:35 a.m. Once again, the accomplice pointed a gun at the victim and demanded his money. But the victim didn’t have anything, and he turned his pockets inside out to prove it, Aberdeen said.
A little before 6 a.m., the duo saw a 31-year-old man walking his dog in the 1100 block of South Michigan. They stopped, and the accomplice pulled out his revolver, demanding the man’s property and threatening to kill him and his dog, Aberdeen alleged.
Gonzales and his partner ordered the man to take them to his car, but he told them it was locked behind a gate in the garage. So Gonzales took the victim’s gold chain and biked away with the gunman, Aberdeen said.
Possibly sick of bicycling, the pair rolled up on a 22-year-old man sitting in a car in an alley behind the 1100 block of South Wabash. They knocked on the man’s window, and the accomplice ordered him out of the vehicle at gunpoint, said Aberdeen. With Gonzales allegedly behind the wheel, they drove off with the man’s gray Honda.
Chicago police officers spotted the car around 11:30 a.m. near Chicago Avenue and the Kennedy Expressway. Gonzales was behind the wheel when they pulled it over, Aberdeen alleged. No one else was in the car, but Gonzales had the fourth victim’s gold chain, and he was wearing the same clothes that one of the robbers was seen wearing on surveillance videos, according to Aberdeen.