Bail set at $1 million for Chicago man charged in Oak Brook carjacking
A Chicago man is facing charges of aggravated vehicular hijacking with a gun and armed robbery after he is accused of playing a role in stealing a woman's car and purse from Oakbrook Center mall.
Bail was set at $1 million for Darnell Anderson, 26, of the 4800 block of West Monroe Street, during a bond hearing Saturday morning in DuPage County Court. He would need to pay $100,000 to be released from jail.
The charges came three days after Anderson and another suspect are accused of stealing the 68-year-old woman's car and purse at gunpoint before her shift Wednesday morning at Oakbrook Center.
"The very idea that someone would rob an innocent woman of her car and purse at a popular, well-traveled shopping mall is outrageous," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a news release Saturday. "Thankfully, the victim in this case was not harmed."
A spokesman for the state's attorney's office could not say Saturday whether the other suspect is still at large, but authorities said their investigation is continuing.
Police have recovered the woman's vehicle, a white Honda Civic, in Chicago. They also recovered a vehicle reported stolen from Maywood that authorities believe the suspects used in the carjacking after a chase Wednesday on I-290 in Chicago in which four people were detained.
Oak Brook police said the woman was sitting in her Civic about 9:36 a.m. Wednesday in the mall parking lot when a white Toyota Camry drove up behind her and blocked her into her spot.
A man with a gun approached the woman, opened her driver's side door and ordered her to leave the vehicle.
The woman tried to run away with her purse, but the man caught her and took her purse before driving away in her car as another man drove away in the Camry.
Oak Brook police Chief James Kruger said in a news release his officers, in collaboration with their counterparts at the Maywood, Chicago and Illinois State Police, put together the case against Anderson in roughly 48 hours.
Berlin said the speedy arrest sends a message to offenders that they will be held accountable.
Anderson is next due in court April 23 in front of Judge Jeffrey MacKay and if convicted, could face up to 45 years in prison.