Cops: Glendale Heights robber hit 7-Eleven before bank
A man accused of robbing a Glendale Heights bank on Monday has been charged with beating and robbing a 7-Eleven clerk two days earlier, police said Thursday.
Roberto Garcia, 30, is being held on $200,000 bail.
Authorities said he entered the convenience store at 2119 Bloomingdale Road in Glendale Heights at 10:36 p.m. Saturday, went behind the counter and repeatedly punched a clerk. The clerk, who is in his mid-50s, managed to escape while a customer called 911 and Garcia fled with about 100 scratch-off lottery tickets, police said.
“(The clerk) wasn’t seriously injured, but it was serious enough he went to the hospital,” Glendale Heights Sgt. Doug Flint said.
Authorities said Garcia wouldn’t have been able to collect any lottery winnings because the tickets were reported stolen.
Police said they identified Garcia while investigating the 7-Eleven robbery and a second robbery Monday at a nearby Chase Bank at 2150 Bloomingdale Road. Carpentersville police pulled Garcia over and arrested him late Monday after Glendale Heights police put out an alert.
Flint said surveillance footage from both robberies, as well as the cooperation between police agencies, was instrumental in making a speedy arrest.
“It was great police work by the detectives tracking this guy down, putting boots on the ground and showing the pictures,” he said.
Garcia, of the 100 block of Gladstone Drive in Glendale Heights, faces charges of robbery, aggravated battery and resisting or obstructing police. Police said the FBI is seeking federal robbery charges.
Garcia previously had been identified as Robert Garcia.