A year later, third suspect nabbed in Lombard home invasion
A man accused of restraining two adults and a 15-month-old boy during a home invasion in Lombard more than a year ago has been taken into custody and is being held on $200,000 bail.
David Johnson, 31, of the 3500 block of Adams Street in Bellwood, is the third person charged in connection with the March 2011 robbery on the 100 block of West St. Charles Road. He appeared in DuPage County bond court Thursday, charged with home invasion and armed robbery.
The trio is accused of forcing their way into the victims’ home with a replica, metal air gun. Prosecutors said they bound the adult victims with zip ties and blindfolded them with pillowcases while threatening to kill them and the woman’s toddler son, who also was blindfolded, before making off with $900 and a cache of electronics.
The robbery was orchestrated with the help of a 16-year-old boy, Assistant State’s Attorney Bethany Jackson said in court Thursday. A prosecutor at an earlier hearing said the teen had a map showing where valuables could be located inside the victims’ apartment and took part in the robbery.
Police arrested the teenage suspect and Fernando Vazquez of Lombard last year after the victims, who were previously acquainted with the defendants, identified them to investigators.
Lombard Police Deputy Chief Pat Rollins said detectives followed leads until they identified and charged Johnson in February, then spent about six months searching before arresting him at an unnamed location Wednesday.
“It was a long process and our detectives stuck with it,” Rollins said. “Having a toddler be a victim here is just unconscionable. Detective Eric Gouty and his fellow detectives did a phenomenal job in working this case to a conclusion.”
The teen defendant has not been publicly named because he was a juvenile when the crime occurred. Vazquez, 28, pleaded guilty to home invasion in January and is now serving a 12-year term at Western Illinois Correctional Center, near the Iowa border.
On Thursday, Judge Elizabeth Sexton ordered Johnson, who has a prior burglary conviction, held on $200,000 bail, meaning he would need to $20,000 to bond out. His next court date is July 23.