Chicago police have filed armed robbery charges against a South Side man in connection with Friday’s armed robbery of the high-end DIOR boutique on Rush Street. Cops arrested Anthony Bowens, 53, on Saturday to face charges of armed robbery with a firearm.
Officials said an armed robber pried through two doors at the back of the store at 931 North Rush around 10:47 p.m. Once inside, the robber pulled out a firearm and held a DIOR security guard at gunpoint as he collected purses and bags from the store shelves, according to Cook County state’s attorney’s office records.
Various reports estimated the store’s loss at $40,000 to $48,000.
He loaded the goods into a black Yukon truck in the alley and drove away. A source familiar with the investigation said police quickly zeroed in on Bowens because the license plate on the robber’s getaway vehicle was registered to him.
Cops spotted the vehicle near 63rd and Lowe on Saturday afternoon. Knowing it was possibly involved in the DIOR robbery, they pulled it over.
A CPD arrest report said Bowens resembled the robber, who was recorded by DIOR security cameras. And, because his driver’s license was suspended, they took him into custody.
Prosecutors charged him with armed robbery, driving on a suspended license, and other motor vehicle violations. Chicago police inventory records show cops found credit cards in the names of three other people during Bowens’ arrest, but he is not charged in connection with those.
Judge Ankur Srivastava set bail at $150,000. That means Bowens must post a $15,000 deposit to get out of jail on electronic monitoring.
Cook County court records show Bowens was convicted of burglary and armed robbery in 2010, receiving a ten-year sentence for the latter charge. He was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in 2004; manufacture-delivery of cocaine in 2000; and possession of a controlled substance in 1999, the court file says.