Three men charged in Waukegan robberies
Waukegan police said they apprehended three men who were in the process of robbing the Dollar General on the 2200 block of North Lewis Avenue last week and charged them in three recent armed robberies in Waukegan.
Markis Randle, 39, of Beach Park, Brandon Sledge, 37, of Waukegan, and Robert E. Thomas, 46, of Waukegan, were charged with three counted of armed robbery, according to a news release issued Tuesday.
Police say the men participated in armed robberies on Dec. 12 at Waukegan Gyro on the 1100 block of Golf Road and on Dec. 26 at the Mobil gas station on the 1900 block of Washington Street.
After those robberies, the police department activated a special unit to try to find the robbers, and it conducted undercover surveillance on business locations throughout Waukegan.
The unit believed that the robbers were using a white four-door sedan.
About 8 p.m. Jan. 11, a strike team officer at the Dollar General spotted a sedan matching that description. The sedan passed the business several times and parked. Two men, with their faces concealed, got out of the car and started heading toward the store.
The undercover officer called for backup, and as police cars began to arrive the two men - whom police identified as Sledge and Randle - ran back to the white sedan. Thomas attempted to drive away from the scene but struck a police car, disabling the white sedan, police said.
At that point Sledge and Randle tried to flee on foot, but both were chased down by police, according to the news release.
Sledge and Randle were also charged with one count of resisting a peace officer.
Waukegan police recovered a BB gun from the sedan and a loaded revolver they found during the foot chase. The revolver was sent to the Northern Illinois Crime Lab for further processing.
Randle and Sledge are being held at the Lake County jail on $350,000 bail each.
Thomas is being held at the Waukegan jail on a $750,000 arrest warrant. He will appear in front of a bond judge Wednesday.