CHICAGO — A man has been charged with robbing a South Side grocery store while on electronic monitoring for a pending burglary case. Timothy Bowden, 28, robbed the store while enjoying the “essential movement” privileges bestowed upon electronic monitoring detainees by the SAFE-T Act, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Essential movement” allows people outfitted with ankle monitors to spend two days a week outside their homes, purportedly to complete “essential” activities like applying for jobs, grocery shopping, and going to medical appointments. Aggravated robbery is typically not considered an approved “essential” activity.
Last Monday afternoon, Chicago police responded to a robbery at La Feria grocery store, 9704 South Commercial, in South Deering. A 46-year-old store employee told officers the man passed her a holdup note that said, “Give me the $ I gotta gun.” After getting cash, the robber ran from the store.
According to his CPD arrest report, cops found Bowden about a block away, wearing clothes similar to the robber’s. The store’s cashier confirmed that he was the robber.
Judge Caroline Glennon-Goodman detained Bowden on a charge of aggravated robbery. According to her detention order, the store employee told police that Bowden had robbed the store another time, too, but he’s only charged with last week’s robbery.
Bowden was arrested on a burglary charge in September 2023 and had been on electronic monitoring since July, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.
Even though people on “essential movement” can enjoy two days per week outside their homes, those days are still applied against any prison sentence they receive upon conviction.
Under Cook County’s 2025 budget, operational control of the county’s primary electronic monitoring program is slated to transfer from the sheriff’s office to the county court system, headed by Chief Judge Timothy Evans. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, who has often voiced his concerns about judges placing violent criminals on electronic monitoring, has been trying to unload the program from his office for years.
According to Dart’s office, moving the electronic monitoring program to the courts will align the county with national norms. Cook County has the only sheriff’s office in the country that operates a pre-trial electronic monitoring program, a Dart spokesperson said.
The current timeline calls for the sheriff’s office to stop accepting new electronic monitoring participants by April 1, according to Dart’s office. All electronic monitoring placements after that date will go on a court-operated system.
Dart’s spokesperson said his office will continue to monitor all participants in the sheriff’s program until their criminal cases conclude or a judge releases them from electronic monitoring.
The spokesperson said last month that conversations between the sheriff’s office, Evans’ office, and other officials were “ongoing,” and Dart’s team was working to “ensure a safe and efficient transition beginning April 1.”
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
