A 21-year-old man who recently completed parole for robbing a senior citizen on the CTA is back in custody, accused of committing two more violent robberies on the Red Line last month.
Prosecutors said Anthony Cheeks mugged two men within a week, but Chicago police suspect he was involved in several more.
Cheeks is accused of first robbing a 38-year-old man of a backpack on a Red Line train near Jackson on September 5. Six days later, prosecutors said, Cheeks and accomplices targeted a 47-year-old man aboard a Red Line train at the 47th Street station. Cheeks allegedly demanded the victim’s bottle of Tito’s vodka, and when he refused, Cheeks allegedly put his hand in his pants to suggest he had a gun.
“You know, I shoot m***********s!” he allegedly warned before forcibly taking the vodka and punching the victim in the face, chest, and head.
According to a CPD report, a transit surveillance officer monitoring CTA video feeds recently spotted Cheeks at the 35th Street Red Line station and recognized him as wanted in connection with the robberies. Patrol officers were sent to the station and arrested him.
Both robberies were recorded on CTA surveillance cameras, and prosecutors said the victims later identified Cheeks in a photo lineup. Police issued a community alert on September 12 about a string of seven Red Line robberies; the two incidents involving Cheeks were among those listed.
Judge Antara Rivera ordered him detained on robbery and aggravated battery charges.
Court records show Cheeks was handed a four-year prison sentence last year for mugging a 66-year-old man aboard a Red Line train in May 2023. Cheeks recently completed parole in that case.
He is now accused of returning to the same stretch of the Red Line where his last robbery occurred. If convicted in the new cases, Cheeks faces the possibility of another lengthy prison term.
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