Third suspect arrested in Glen Ellyn kidnapping
The third and final suspect in the Aug. 26 kidnapping and armed robbery of a 21-year-old Wheaton College student has been arrested in Chicago, Glen Ellyn police said Thursday.
Assistant Police Chief William Holmer said 23-year-old Jeremy Jones, of Chicago, has been held in Cook County Jail on unrelated charges since Monday.
While he has not been formally charged in DuPage County, Jones has been served a warrant for charges of armed robbery, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated unlawful restraint, which carry a combined sentence of 21 to 90 years in prison.
Authorities said Jones was in a car that was pulled over for a traffic violation Monday night in Chicago and he fled on foot. When officers caught him, they say, he gave a fake name and was charged with obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors say Jones, a 17-year-old relative and 18-year-old Abeet Ramos of South Elgin were driving around in a stolen SUV that morning, "hunting" for someone to rob.
The victim was walking north on Forest Avenue between Cottage Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard at 9:50 a.m. when he was charged by Jones and the teen. Jones grabbed him by the shirt, threatened to shoot him and forced him into the back seat of a small SUV that Ramos was driving, authorities said.
The three took the victim's Colorado Rockies baseball hat, his wallet and his iPhone, forcing him to remove the pass code and tracking device, authorities said. They then drove him to a bank along Roosevelt Road and ordered him to withdraw $1,100 from an ATM, authorities said.
The trio then drove the victim to Chicago, where they made more ATM stops, prompting withdrawals of $200 and $300, authorities said.
The trio kept him in custody, forcing him at gunpoint down on the floor in the back of the SUV, until around 11:30 a.m. when they let him loose in Chicago, gave him his iPhone and $20, and drove away, Kwon said. He immediately ran inside a building and called police.
Ramos has been held on $3 million bail in DuPage since his Sept. 2 arrest. The 17-year-old juvenile from Elgin is being held at a juvenile detention center where he is charged with two counts of aggravated kidnapping and one count of armed robbery. Prosecutors have petitioned the court to allow them to charge the minor as an adult.