Hazel Crest man stands trial for Mount Prospect armed robbery
A Mount Prospect detective testified Wednesday that a tracking device on a stolen iPad led him to a Hazel Crest man who authorities say participated in the armed robbery of a Mount Prospect Sprint wireless store.
Detective Jon Juhl testified during the trial of Marvin L. Jones Jr., charged with robbing the store on the 900 block of E. Rand Road at gunpoint on Dec. 3, 2013. Prosecutors said Jones, 27, and another man entered the store, pointed a handgun at the manager and customers and forced them into a bathroom. One of the men ordered an employee to fill two bags with phones and tablet computers, then the men fled through the back door, authorities said.
No one was injured during the robbery, police said. Only two of the 180 items taken were recovered, Juhl said.
Jones has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 21 years in prison.
Juhl testified the stolen iPad's tracking device led him and his fellow officers to the Cook County courthouse in Markham the day after the robbery, where the device indicated the iPad was in motion. Juhl testified he stopped a vehicle approaching him. Jones, a passenger in the car, had an iPad on his lap that was later determined to be stolen from the Mount Prospect store, Juhl said. Jones also had about $2,300 in cash which he claimed he earned from trimming trees, Juhl said.
Juhl said Jones told him two men he identified as Big E and Little E ran a cellphone robbery crew that targeted stores in the Northwest suburbs. Juhl testified Jones told him the men drove him to another location where he entered a car occupied by two other men. Jones claimed the other two men entered the store from the rear, and he only poked his head in briefly before returning to the car, Juhl said.
According to Juhl, Jones claimed the men ran out of the store and gave him the iPad and an iPad mini, which police later recovered from Jones' home. Police also recovered from Jones, who had a Firearm Owners Identification card, an old revolver and a semiautomatic handgun they say were not used in the robbery.
Under cross examination from defense attorney Beau Brindley, Juhl said Jones' shoes did not match shoe prints found outside the store. Juhl also testified that although Jones wore his hair in shoulder-length dreadlocks at the time, none of the witnesses described the robber that way.
Testimony continues Thursday.