Police: Suspect used pellet gun in robberies
An Arlington Heights man used a pellet gun to rob 17 gas stations and small grocery stores in Lake and Cook counties, said Lake County prosecutor Kristen Robinson at a court hearing on Friday.
Piotr Jaworowski, 31, referred to by Arlington Heights police as a "one-man crime wave," was arrested Wednesday in Lake County after robbing a gas station near Antioch, police said.
"On May 7, Mr. Jaworowski jammed the pellet gun into a clerk's ribcage and demanded cash from the register," Robinson said.
She added that Jaworowski admitted to the act.
On Friday, Jaworowski was unable to post the $75,000 cash bond set by Lake County Associate Circuit Court Judge Daniel B. Shane.
Shane also assigned Jaworowski a public defender.
According to police, Jaworowski is responsible for at least 17 armed robberies committed over the last seven months in the North and Northwest suburbs.
Jaworowski, of 1118 N. Dale Ave. in Arlington Heights, admitted to the armed robberies during questioning Thursday, Arlington Heights police said.
During Friday's brief court hearing, Jaworowski answered Shanes' questions with one-word answers through a Polish interpreter, telling the judge he is married with two children. He added he is an electrician who makes between $500 and $800 a week.
There was no family present at Friday's hearing.
Before returning to jail, Jaworowski asked Shanes to call his wife and tell her about his next court date, which will be on June 5 at the Lake County courthouse.
Police say Jaworowski's crime spree began in October 2007 with an armed robbery at a Shell gas station in Prospect Heights. Authorities say he targeted gas stations, convenience stores, liquor stores and food markets in Arlington Heights, Winnetka, Lake Zurich, Prospect Heights, Palatine, Wheeling, Mount Prospect and Buffalo Grove.
Law enforcement officials from those jurisdictions created a task force to find Jaworowski after an Arlington Heights police officer did a traffic stop on a person matching the suspect's description. On Wednesday, task force members watched Jaworowski leave his Arlington Heights home and followed him into northern Lake County, where he went into a gas station at Grass Lake Road and Route 59 and robbed the clerk, authorities said.
The task force alerted the Lake County sheriff's office, after which deputies stopped Jaworowski's car and took him into custody without incident, police said.
Lake County deputies and investigators from assisting agencies recovered the weapon as well as the majority of the money Jaworowski threw out the window of his 2000 Dodge Caravan as police were approaching, police said.
Additional charges in Cook County will also probably be filed against Jaworowski next week, said Cmdr. Ken Galinski of the Arlington Heights Police Department.