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Bail set at $3.5 million in Glen Elyn kidnapping, armed robbery

Bail was set at $3.5 million this morning for the man accused of threatening to "put a hole" in a Wheaton College student he and two others are accused of kidnapping and robbing last month in Glen Ellyn.

Jeremy Jones, 23, of Elgin, is charged with armed robbery, aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping and armed violence. If convicted, Jones faces between 21 and 90 years in prison.

Assistant State's Attorney Mike Fisher said Jones was arrested Saturday night in Chicago after he was seen choking the driver of a car that was pulled over for a traffic violation.

Fisher said Jones "made a run for it" and gave police phony names and birthdays when he was caught.

In the Glen Ellyn case, prosecutors said Jones, a 17-year-old relative and 18-year-old Abeet Ramos of South Elgin were driving around in a vehicle reported stolen by Ramos' roommate, "hunting" for someone to rob.

The Wheaton College student was walking north on Forest Avenue between Cottage Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard at 9:50 a.m. "killing time before worship at the college's chapel" when he was charged by Jones and the teen, Fisher said.

Jones grabbed the victim by the shirt and forced him, at gunpoint, into the back seat of the SUV, Fisher said.

The victim, he added, who believed the gun to be a silver .357 revolver, knew the gun was cocked.

"The defendant told the victim he was one click away from putting a hole in him," Fisher said during Jones' bail hearing.

The three took the victim's baseball cap, 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, Fisher said.

The trio kept him in custody, forcing him at gunpoint to lie on the floor in the back of the SUV, until about 11:30 a.m. when they let him loose in Chicago, gave him his iPhone and $20, and drove away.

"They told the victim to take a train back to Wheaton," Fisher said. "And they told him they knew who he was and, if he called the police, they would have someone come after him."

Fisher said Jones then purchased various clothing items with the victim's cash.

More than a week after the kidnapping, and after Jones was identified during a news conference as a suspect, an Elgin man came forward and said Jones had recently left a backpack at his house.

"There was a gun in the backpack so he took it to the Elgin Police Department," Fisher said. "The gun was a silver revolver with what appear to be cylinders that hold what appear to be rounds, but it was a BB gun."

Fisher said authorities are unsure whether the gun in the backpack was the weapon used in the armed robbery because both Ramos and the victim told police they believed the gun used was real.

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.

Jones' attorney asked Judge John Kinsella to reduce his bail to $100,000, which Kinsella denied. Jones is next due in court on Nov. 1.

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