Four men are facing federal charges after prosecutors said they stormed a Plainfield cellular store with a handgun, stole more than $92,000 in Apple products, and barricaded victims inside a restroom with a refrigerator. Unbeknownst to them, however, one of the iPhones they stole was actually a secret tracking device.
At about 11:28 a.m. on September 24, three masked men in hooded sweatshirts entered a cellular store in the 12000 block of South Route 59, and one of them pointed a handgun at an employee and a customer. The robbers took valuables from the pockets of the customer and worker, then forced them into a back room, a criminal complaint said.
At one point, one robber intentionally tripped the customer, causing him to hit his head on a door frame before kicking him hard enough to leave blood on his boots.
After forcing the employee to open the safe, two robbers filled large canvas bags with iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.
As that was happening, the employee heard the front door chime and realized one of his co-workers had arrived for their shift, the complaint said. One of the robbers forced the new arrival to crawl into the back room on his hands and knees and then lie face down with the others.
Prosecutors said the crew forced both employees and the customer into a restroom, then barricaded the door with a refrigerator.
The men fled with “approximately $92,337.62” in merchandise, mostly iPhones, and piled into a gray Chrysler Pacifica driven by a fourth man, with another person waiting in the back seat.
But the robbers didn’t realize one of the stolen iPhones contained a hidden tracking device, according to the complaint. As they sped away, law enforcement began receiving real-time GPS updates, and officers found the Chrysler in Blue Island, where it had crashed through a fence before coming to a stop. The occupants of the minivan bolted, leaving sealed Apple products inside the van.
An air support unit directed officers to the fleeing men.
Within minutes, Sidney Blackmon, Rashaad Collins, Devon Johnson, and Dwayne Parker were in custody. The complaint said video shows Blackmon tossing a .40-caliber Glock into a yard as he ran. The gun was recovered.
Investigators later determined that Johnson had rented the Chrysler Pacifica earlier that day. Surveillance video from the rental agency showed him wearing the same clothes as the getaway driver, according to the complaint.
In a more old-fashioned bit of detective work, an FBI agent said Collins and Parker were linked to the robbery partly because they were wearing distinctive underwear that matched what two of the masked robbers had on during the heist.
All four men are charged with robbery affecting interstate commerce and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
