North Chicago man charged in two Waukegan robberies
Using what an official called "old-fashioned police work," Waukegan police detectives arrested a North Chicago man for two robberies they say he carried out in the past week.
Tharon Williams, 49, was charged with robbing the Super Mercado La Mexicana on the 1500 block of Washington Street on Dec. 16 and with robbing the Family Dollar on the 1100 block of Washington Street on Dec. 18.
Cmdr. Joe Florip said detectives used surveillance footage to determine that Williams was the suspect in both cases. It was then a matter of catching him, so officers went to stores in the area and told employees to call police if they saw Williams come in the store.
On Wednesday evening, Williams entered a store - Florip declined to identify which one - and a store employee called police. Police arrested Williams because there was an active failure to appear warrant out on him in a Lake County larceny case, Florip said.
"The detectives did old-fashioned, gumshoe police work," Florip said. "They went out, handed out fliers, and in the end we were able to locate who we were looking for."
On Thursday he was charged with one count of robbery in the Super Mercado La Mexicana case and one count of aggravated robbery in the Family Dollar case.
Williams is being held in the Lake County jail on a $250,000 bail.