CHICAGO — Deangelo Coleman has been featured in his share of CWBChicago stories. A phone snatching in 2016. Attacking and robbing a Lakeview woman in 2021. Trying to carjack a driver in Wrigleyville last April.
We are pleased to report that Coleman will not be appearing in any more stories until at least the year 2030—unless he manages to escape from prison, because that’s where the Wrigleyville carjacking has put him.
On April 6, 2024, barely two months after getting out of prison for mugging a woman inside her Boystown apartment building, Coleman attacked and tried to carjack a man in an alley behind the 3500 block of North Fremont. That’s less than 200 yards from the Town Hall (19th) District police station, a detail Coleman should know since he’s been escorted into that station in handcuffs at least five times.
Prosecutors said a 53-year-old man drove into the alley to park behind his apartment building, but another vehicle blocked his path. Coleman, 29, and an accomplice approached the victim’s car and opened his driver’s door, a Chicago police arrest report said. Coleman repeatedly punched the man in the face and head, yelled obscenities, and finally pulled the victim out of his 2022 Hyundai Palisade, according to the report.
Police said Coleman tried to drive away with the man’s SUV but couldn’t figure out how to put it into gear. According to the report, the frustrated Coleman stepped out of the SUV and went after the victim again. Fearing another attack, the victim started recording with his phone while running through a gangway, popping out on the 800 block of West Addison. Both men emerged just as a Chicago police squad car was rolling by, as they often do since there’s a police station across the street. The cops arrested Coleman.
Court records show Coleman decided to resolve the matter by pleading guilty to vehicular hijacking and aggravated battery in a public place. Judge Aleksandra Gillespie handed him 12 years for the carjacking and a concurrent five years for the battery charge. His time will be reduced by 50% for good behavior.
At the time of the hijacking, Coleman had just finished serving half of a five-year sentence he received for mugging a 24-year-old woman in August 2021. She told police that Coleman followed her into her building in the 400 block of West Aldine, trailed her onto the elevator, and said he was going to the third floor.
He lunged at her when the doors closed and demanded the woman’s purse. She handed over her phone, watch, and bag. Coleman then followed the woman as she exited on the fifth floor and told her he would hurt her if she screamed, prosecutors claimed. The woman ran down a stairwell and out the front door, where she told passersby about the robbery.
Cops arrested Coleman at the Addison Red Line station after following GPS data from the woman’s phone. He had the woman’s phone, watch, ID, and two credit cards bearing the woman’s name in his pants, prosecutors said. Video from the woman’s lobby showed Coleman following her in and fleeing a few minutes later.
Just days before the robbery, Coleman was arrested after a 31-year-old woman told police he followed her into her building in the 600 block of West Stratford and began hitting her, a CPD spokesperson told CWBChicago. Cops arrested Coleman a short time later. He was charged with misdemeanor battery, then walked out of the 19th District police station four hours later on a signature bond. Prosecutors dropped the case after Coleman was sentenced to prison for the 2021 robbery, according to court records.
In March 2016, a 22-year-old woman accused Coleman of snatching her phone at the Belmont Red Line station. He received a 12-day sentence for misdemeanor theft.
In September 2015, a Schaumburg man walked into the Town Hall police station to report that someone had just snatched a tablet from his hand, and the offender may have run into a nearby church. Officers found Coleman sitting on the church steps with the victim’s tablet in his hand, according to a police report. Police said Coleman claimed to have found the tablet lying in the grass after someone named “Maleek” stole it.
Coleman was charged with theft of lost or mislaid property, but the charges were dropped when the victim failed to appear in court.
In January 2016, Coleman was granted deferred prosecution after being charged with stealing hats, shorts, pants, and a nightshirt from Macy’s in Old Orchard. Three days later, he was arrested after a South Loop convenience store accused him of stealing a ski hat. That case was dropped when the store failed to show up in court.
