Woodridge robber gets probation, stab wound to the buttocks
After he robbed a man at knife point, Corey Johnson found himself on the other end of a blade, courtesy of a woman who pulled a knife out of her bra and stabbed him in the buttocks.
The 20-year-old former Aurora man was sentenced Friday to three years of probation for the March 27 robbery in Woodridge. He also must get a job or go to school, DuPage County Judge Robert Kleeman ruled.
The robbery unfolded after two acquaintances pulled up outside Johnson’s home on the 2400 block of Kildeer Street in Woodridge about 10 p.m. Johnson approached the passenger side of the vehicle, shattered the window with a roughly 9-inch hunting knife, and robbed a man of his wallet, Prosecutor Jim Scaliatine said.
Afterward, Johnson became entangled with a separate group of people in the area who were known to him. At some point, authorities said, he held the knife to a woman’s throat. She responded by retrieving a pocket knife from her bra and stabbing him in the buttocks.
Johnson was arrested after police searched his home and found a large hunting knife next to the stolen wallet. Though he disputed prosecutors’ version of events, Johnson pleaded guilty in August and vowed Friday to turn his life around if spared prison.
“I won’t let the judicial system down,” Johnson told the judge.
Kleeman called the crime “horribly violent and outrageous” but said he was reluctant to imprison Johnson, who had a minimal criminal record and appeared to have committed the offense during a “bizarre” domestic dispute.
“This is a violent crime but the evidence presented today changes the character of it,” he said.
But the judge warned that Johnson would likely go to prison if he doesn’t complete probation. He added that the DuPage County jail is much different from what Johnson would experience in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
“Frankly, looking at you, I don’t think you’d do very well,” Kleeman told the 6-foot-1, 150-pound defendant.
Prosecutors said Johnson, a high-school dropout, had moved to Woodridge from Aurora a day before the robbery.