Chicago man guilty in Naperville Radio Shack armed robbery
A DuPage County jury deliberated for exactly one hour Thursday before finding a Chicago man guilty in a 2013 Naperville armed robbery.
Dennis Clark, 24, now faces between 21 and 45 years in prison after jurors determined a real handgun was used in the 2013 armed robbery of a Naperville Radio Shack.
During his closing argument, Assistant Public Defender Mark Lyon told jurors Clark made a "big, big, big mistake" when he and two other men robbed the Naperville Radio Shack.
But, Lyon said, the mistake was not compounded by using a real gun.
Prosecutors and all three witnesses, including one of Clark's co-defendants, however, told jurors Clark and Christopher Nesbit, 45, of Chicago, threatened two employees with a ". 380 semiautomatic handgun" during the robbery on Aug. 12, 2013, at Radio Shack, 1223 E. Ogden Ave., while a third man acted as a lookout and driver.
Clark was charged with armed robbery in a caper that prosecutors say saw him and the two other men make off with $45,000 in cellphones.
Assistant State's Attorney Joe Ruggiero said Clark and Nesbit entered the store that evening and "terrorized and traumatized" the 24-year-old female clerk and her 54-year-old manager with the gun for more than an hour.
"This is not like some heroin hype who runs out and commits a crime to get his next high," he said. "This is a team of guys from the city who went to Robbins to get a gun and then went to Naperville to commit this armed robbery. This was a gun. These guys aren't messing around. The female clerk testified during the trial 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."
Lyon said he doesn't doubt the victims believed the gun was real in a traumatic situation. But he told jurors prosecutors did not establish the gun, which was never recovered, was real.
"The only issue is was this an armed robbery or was it a robbery?" Lyon asked. "I'm not asking you to let him go. I'm asking you to find him guilty of robbery."
After stealing the phones, the men locked the employees in a bathroom and sped off in a Volvo with the cellphones, prosecutors said.
"This defendant committed a brazen act of violence," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said after the verdict. "With today's verdict, he will now spend a significant amount of time in the penitentiary."
The clerk testified 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.
Naperville Detective Richard Arsenault testified Thursday that police used that information to track 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 Kostner 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, Arsenault 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.
Clark is next due in court on May 20 for the receipt of a presentence report and setting of a sentencing date.