CHICAGO — A man who allegedly led state troopers on a high-speed chase across Chicago last month, then got released under the newly-enacted SAFE-T Act, is back in custody. Prosecutors say he robbed a clothing store in Cicero two days after the judge set him free.
You may remember our story about Gambino Johns.
About a month after Judge Stanley Hill decided Gambino Johns didn’t need to be on electronic monitoring for two pending misdemeanors, he allegedly led Illinois State Police troopers on a high-speed chase across Chicago that ended with a crash in Lincoln Park on September 17.
The chase started when troopers saw a Toyota Corolla in the 4000 block of West Madison that they believed had been carjacked at gunpoint a few hours earlier, according to Johns’ arrest report from that incident. The troopers pulled behind the car and confirmed that the license plate matched the carjacked vehicle’s plate.
As they sat behind the Corolla, Johns pulled away and ran a red light as troopers “passively followed,” the report said. But the car accelerated, and the troopers turned on their lights and sirens.
Troopers ended the chase by performing a “PIT maneuver,” which caused the Corolla to crash into a fence on the DePaul University campus at 2318 North Halsted. Police later said that a pedestrian suffered minor injuries in the crash.
Prosecutors charged him with felony aggravated fleeing, misdemeanor driving without a license, misdemeanor speeding, and a host of traffic violations. And Judge Mary Marubio released him with a curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. But she ordered him to stay in custody for two more days until Hill, the judge overseeing his two pending retail theft cases, could look at the new developments.
Hill decided to let Johns go home.
Two days later, around 11:13 a.m. on September 23, Johns walked into the rue21 clothing store at 4783 West Cermak in Cicero, prosecutors say. Officials say that he told the cashier he had a gun and took cash from the register.
Johns still had the robbery proceeds when police arrested him, according to prosecutors.
He’s now charged with aggravated robbery. It’s his fourth pending case, a fact Judge Ankur Srivastava cited in paperwork ordering Johns detained as a public safety risk.
Johns is due back in court on October 10th, 16th, and 20th.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
