A Chicago man accused of trying to rob a CTA passenger on the Red Line was caught after officers who arrested him on a separate shoplifting charge less than 90 minutes later recognized him from robbery surveillance footage, prosecutors say.
Ventrel Murphy, 30, is charged with attempted robbery after he and an unidentified accomplice targeted a rider on a southbound Red Line train on the morning of February 21.
According to police, Murphy and his accomplice boarded the train at the Roosevelt station around 7 a.m. When the victim boarded the same car at Sox-35th, both men approached the victim, struck and kicked him, and tried to take his brown duffle bag, prosecutors said. But the victim managed to hold onto the bag and escape at the Garfield station.
Murphy and his accomplice allegedly exited at 79th Street and took a northbound train to Chicago Avenue. Prosecutors said Murphy then walked into a nearby Whole Foods, where he was arrested for shoplifting around 8:30 a.m.
Investigators later reviewed body camera footage from that arrest and realized that Murphy looked just like one of the Red Line robbers. In fact, he was wearing the same clothes in both the body cam and the CTA surveillance videos, prosecutors said.
Police recently spotted Murphy on the Red Line at 47th Street, recognized him, and arrested him on the robbery charge. He also had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court for the Whole Foods shoplifting case, according to court records.
Judge James Costello detained Murphy on the attempted robbery count.
