CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been sentenced to six years for robbing a DePaul University student at knifepoint inside the school’s downtown library earlier this year. Kainti Foster-Smith received an additional four years for battering a Cook County jail employee while he was in custody for the robbery, according to court records.
He pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery and one count of aggravated battery of a Department of Corrections employee before Judge Ursula Waloski. She ordered the sentences to be served consecutively. With good behavior and other credits, he will be paroled in May 2028.
Prosecutors said the DePaul student saw Foster-Smith, 23, watching her as she went to the library restroom around noon on January 27. Her wallet was missing from her workstation when she returned.
The woman confronted Foster-Smith about the theft and called for security. Foster-Smith allegedly told the school’s officers that the woman was a “crazy ex-girlfriend” and walked away.
But the woman followed him and asked for her wallet back. That’s when Foster-Smith pulled out a knife, according to prosecutors.
“I’m going to murder you if you keep on following me,” he allegedly said.
Chicago police arrived a few minutes later and arrested him. They allegedly found a knife and the woman’s wallet, ID, and credit cards in his possession.
Details about the jail attack were not immediately available.
A few weeks before robbing the DePaul student, Foster-Smith was arrested at the Harold Washington Library.
In that incident, Foster-Smith punched a library patron in the face. Chicago cops said Foster-Smith had two 10½-inch Bowie knives when they arrested him, including one tucked into his waistband.
He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon in exchange for a sentence of 46 days, time he had already served, on January 19, eight days before the DePaul robbery.
