Two men are charged with committing a violent early-morning robbery on a CTA Red Line train in October, with one suspect allegedly caught six days later using a fake name while in possession of the victim’s stolen identification, according to prosecutors and court records.
Kendall Ross, 19, and Bodarious Minor, 27, and an unidentified third person attacked and robbed a 23-year-old Evergreen Park man around 3:40 a.m. on October 12 as they rode a train toward the 69th Street Red Line station, according to a detention filing.
The victim told Chicago police he was heading home when the group approached him on the train. Minor allegedly punched him in the face and chest with Ross joining in the attack, according to the filing. Ross grabbed the man’s backpack during the altercation, prosecutors said.
When the train came to a stop at 69th Street, CTA workers saw what was happening and all robbers fled the train with the victim’s backpack, according to the allegations.
A break in the case came six days later when police responded to an unrelated 911 call from someone who reported a suspicious person standing near the trunk of their car. When officers arrived, the individual, who identified himself as “Troy Cooper,” was found with property belonging to the caller, the detention filing said.
But fingerprint analysis revealed “Troy Cooper” was actually Ross, and police found the robbery victim’s driver’s license and Social Security card in his possession, prosecutors said.
Multiple officers who reviewed the CTA surveillance footage recognized Ross from the images. But charges were delayed when the victim was unable to identify him in a photo lineup.
When questioned, Ross denied being on the train the morning of the robbery, according to the filing. But when shown a time-stamped image from CTA video of one of the suspects, he acknowledged it looked like him but claimed he didn’t remember being there, prosecutors said. Shown another image of the same suspect holding the victim’s backpack, Ross allegedly said he didn’t know who it was.
Ross is charged with robbery and aggravated battery of a transit passenger. Judge Shauna Boliker ordered him held without bail. Minor has been detained on identical charges since October 27 by order of Judge Robert Kuzas, court records show.
