Chicago man gets 30 years for Streamwood armed robbery

A Chicago man received a 30-year sentence Thursday for a 2012 armed robbery of a Streamwood Aldi store, while one of his two co-defendants had his own trial set for June.

Freddie Clemons, 45, of the 2800 block of West Wilcox in Chicago, was found guilty in January of wielding the gun used in the Oct. 12, 2012, holdup of the store on the 900 block of East Irving Park Road.

Before his sentence was imposed by Cook County Judge Richard Schwind, Clemons lost his bid for a new trial.

Assistant Public Defender Robert Fox had filed the motion based on the fact that one of the jurors in January had declared mid-trial that he might have known one of the Streamwood police commanders who testified. But Schwind said that possibility was brought up at the time, and the juror subsequently declared he'd seen the police commander only twice before and that those contacts would not sway him toward either side of the case.

Following sentencing, Fox filed a motion for Schwind to reconsider, based on co-defendant Derrick Shelby, 62, having received only a nine-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2013.

Schwind argued that the sentences were proportionate as Clemons had held the gun used in the holdup and had 10 felony convictions on his record, whereas Shelby had only three.

The third Chicago man charged in the holdup - 49-year-old Joseph Bobbitt of the 300 block of South State Street - had his trial set for June 15 with a final pretrial hearing scheduled for June 10.