Teen gets 6 years in 2017 carjacking of Elgin man trying to sell car

An 18-year-old from Chicago accused in a November 2017 knife-point carjacking of an Elgin man who was trying to sell his car pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Darius L. Polk, of the 4300 block of West Ford City Drive, was charged with five felonies: two counts of aggravated vehicular hijacking; two counts of armed robbery; and one county of attempted armed robbery, according to Kane County court records.

Polk pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery in exchange for prosecutors dismissing the other charges, which carried a prison term of six to 30 years.

Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler approved the plea agreement and six-year term; attempted armed robbery carries a punishment of four to 15 years in prison.

According to police and court records, a 32-year-old Elgin man met Polk and a female juvenile for a test drive late afternoon on Nov. 13, 2017.

Police responded to a call at 5:46 p.m. from the man, who said his car was stolen at knife point on the 300 block of St. Charles Street near downtown and just east of the Fox River.

During the test drive, the girl pulled a knife and told the victim to get out of the car. Polk demanded the man give him his belongings, police said.

Police found the car on the 200 block of Michigan Street, along with the girl, who was arrested.

Officers set up a perimeter and called in a police dog, which found Polk on the 0-99 block of Center Street and he was arrested, police said.

The victim was not injured.

Authorities say the Elgin Police Department's lobby is always open and can be a safe, supervised meeting place for people selling goods.

Under state law, Polk can have his sentence cut in half for good behavior in prison. He also gets credit for 248 days while held at the Kane County jail on $300,000 bail while the case was pending. The girl was taken to a juvenile facility.