CHICAGO — A man who teamed up with two other people, including a 12-year-old, to rob a downtown Chicago convenience store last year has been sentenced to prison.
“How many years do I get for doing this?” Jenell Moore allegedly asked a cop after they arrested him last September.
“For doing what?” the cop replied.
“The armed robbery I did,” Moore clarified.
The answer, we now know, is eight years.
Moore recently pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery in the case, a charge that was reduced from armed robbery with a firearm, according to court records. Judge Michael Clancy handed him the eight-year term and recommended Moore for a boot camp program.
Prosecutors said Moore, Geeshaun Wilson, 21, and the 12-year-old boy were charged with robbing the all-night Americana Submarine and Tobacco, 400 South Clark, around 3:15 a.m. on September 20, 2022.
After the holdup, they sat down on the steps of a nearby L station to count the money they took as a CTA camera recorded them, prosecutors alleged last year.
Officials said Moore, 24, pointed a gun at the cashier’s head and demanded cash. After receiving the store’s $20 and $10 bills, Moore reached over the counter to grab the $5 and $1 bills, too, according to prosecutors.
Moore later described himself as “money hungry,” officials said.
During the robbery, the cashier saw two other people outside. They and Moore ran to the Lasalle Blue Line after the robbery and sat down at the station entrance as Moore counted the cash.
Chicago police began tracking them via the CTA’s surveillance network, first to the Harrison Red Line, then to Roosevelt, where all three were taken into custody on a train.
Prosecutors said the 12-year-old boy had a loaded revolver in his backpack when cops arrested him. Moore admitted to giving the boy the gun after the robbery, prosecutors alleged.
He was on probation for a misdemeanor gun case at the time, a matter that started as a felony but got reduced during negotiations with prosecutors.
Wilson pleaded guilty to aggravated unlawful restraint and received a two-year probation sentence with 200 hours of community service from Judge Clancy.
The 12-year-old was charged with armed robbery with a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and city ordinance violations. But his case’s outcome is unknown because juvenile court records are shielded from public review.
Unfortunately, last year’s robbery was not the last for Americana Submarine and Tobacco. The store was robbed again on April 21 and the offenders stabbed the cashier.