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Chicago man on trial in armed robbery of Naperville Radio Shack

A trial has begun for the alleged “bagman” of what prosecutors are calling a three-man “rip-off” crew accused of the armed robbery of a Naperville Radio Shack.

Dennis Clark, 24, of Chicago, is charged with armed robbery in a caper that prosecutors say saw him and two other men make off with $45,000 in cellphones.

Assistant State's Attorney Joe Ruggiero said Clark and Christopher Nesbit, 45, of Chicago, threatened two employees with a gun during the robbery on Aug. 12, 2013, at Radio Shack, 1223 E. Ogden Ave., while a third man acted as a lookout and driver.

Ruggiero said the men entered the store in the afternoon and “terrified” the 24-year-old female clerk and her 54-year-old manager for more than an hour.

The clerk testified that she was forced to the floor, with Nesbit holding a gun to her head, while Clark bullied her manager and threatened him as he filled Clark's bags with the store's most expensive phones and each of the employees' phones.

“I was scared,” she said. “I didn't want to be killed.”

Afterward, the men locked the employees in a bathroom and sped off in a Volvo with the cellphones, prosecutors said.

The clerk said she opened the bathroom door after hearing a car speed away. She said her manager immediately called 911, while she logged into a program to track her phone. She was able to get a signal and track her phone to the entry ramp of I-88, where police later recovered her smashed phone.

Ruggiero said police, using that lead, tracked the three men down and attempted to pull them over on I-290. The men fled onto Cicero Avenue and quickly crashed the car near 15th Street and Kolin Avenue in Chicago.

Nesbit, who had a leg injury, was quickly captured and eventually gave up Clark and Jalin Parks, the man charged with driving the getaway car, Ruggiero said.

Nesbit pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery last May and is serving a 15-year sentence. Parks is still awaiting trial and is next due in court on April 29.

If convicted, Clark faces a prison term of 21 to 45 years because a gun was involved. The trial is expected to conclude by week's end.

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