CHICAGO — Two 18-year-old men committed three armed robberies on Tuesday afternoon and then got arrested when cops tracked them down by following pings from one of the victims’ phones, officials said.
Judge Caroline Glennon-Goodman detained Rashod Louis and Hamata Hampton on four counts of armed robbery.
The robberies began around 1:50 p.m. in the 5700 block of South Hamlin when two men armed with a pistol robbed a 20-year-old man of his wallet and iPhone, according to a Chicago police report.
At 2:30 p.m., the men robbed a 51-year-old man of about $850 in the 4800 block of South Kedvale, the report said.
Finally, just after 3 p.m., they allegedly robbed a 29-year-old woman and her 28-year-old boyfriend of two phones in the 4300 block of South Whipple.
Cops learned that the robbers were traveling in a red Nissan with a green or teal object visible through the front windshield, according to the report. They were also able to track the female victim’s phone as it moved around the South Side.
Ultimately, police found a red Nissan Altima with a teal decoration on the dashboard parked near the phone’s last known location in the 10000 block of South La Salle, the report said.
While officers monitored the Altima, other units secured video from a nearby gas station, which showed two men parking and getting out of the car shortly before police arrived, according to the report.
As cops watched the Altima, Hampton and Louis emerged from a nearby home and got into the car. The police stopped the vehicle and found the victims’ phones and other proceeds during pat-down searches of the two men, prosecutors said.
Louis was on pretrial release for a misdemeanor case at the time of the robberies. On November 2, he was arrested and charged with battery and possession of a replica firearm after a 38-year-old man reported that Louis and another man got out of a red Nissan and shot him with a paintball gun in the 5800 block of South Bishop, according to a court filing. The case is still pending.
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