CHICAGO — A Chicago man who exchanged gunfire with a River North smoke shop employee during a robbery attempt last year has been handed a 16-year sentence. He received a concurrent 16-year sentence for robbing a North Side cellular store, too.
Lamont Boyd, 20, pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery without a firearm in exchange for the sentences from Judge Ursula Waloski, according to court records. Prosecutors dropped more serious charges, including discharging a firearm during a robbery, which could have resulted in a 20-year sentencing enhancement.
Lamont Boyd pulled out a handgun as he entered Mythical Smokes, 21 West Ontario, around 1:45 p.m. on January 9, 2022, and took an employee’s phone, prosecutors said. He allegedly ordered one employee to fetch cash from the store’s safe and forced another man to empty the register.
But the employee who went into the back room to get money from the safe returned with a gun and started shooting at Boyd, who returned fire as he backed away and ran out the door.
Police tracked the employee’s stolen phone to the 2100 block of East 70th Street, the same block where Boyd lived.
Investigators distributed images of the robber to Chicago cops citywide, and a sergeant in the Near North (18th) District identified Boyd by name within a week, officials said.
Before police caught up with Boyd, he committed a second robbery at Sunshine Phone Accessories, 2304 West Devon.
Prosecutors said Boyd went around the counter with a gun and demanded money, taking cash from the register. Working with an accomplice, Boyd led the clerks to the back of the store and took 16 iPhones from the safe, an iPad, and one of the employees’ phones.
Chicago police tracked down the robber’s getaway car and found Boyd and his alleged accomplice, Toyoun Hampton, sitting inside it with the backpack used in the robbery, prosecutors said.
Boyd’s 16-year sentence will be cut in half for good behavior, and he received more than 600 days of credit for time spent in jail and taking classes while in custody. His parole date is set for June 14, 2030.
Hampton, his accomplice in the phone store heist, received a nine-year sentence from Judge Walowski. With in-custody credits and good behavior, he’ll be paroled on October 17, 2025.
