Two charged in armed robbery of Aurora woman

A man and a woman from Sheridan, Illinois, face felony charges in connection with the January armed robbery of a 46-year-old Aurora woman in the parking lot of a strip mall on the city's west side, Aurora police said Tuesday.

Edwin Alequin, 37, and Nicole Barkes, 29, both of the 200 block of Grant Street, are each charged with armed robbery and unlawful use of a credit card. Alequin also is charged with an additional armed robbery count.

Police said they responded on the evening of Jan. 27 to a report of an armed robbery in the West Aurora Plaza parking lot on the 1900 block of West Galena Boulevard.

The victim told officers that she was approached by a man who asked for money and, when she refused, displayed a weapon that later turned out to be a pellet gun. She ran away and was not injured.

The man, who police later said was Alequin, broke a window of the victim's car with the butt end of the pellet gun and stole her purse off the front seat. He fled in an SUV driven by Barkes, according to police.

The victim's credit card was used at a gas station in Berwyn and a department store in Forest Park within hours of the robbery. Police said they found the license plate number of the SUV using video from the area and identified Barkes by comparing her driver's license photo to pictures taken at the businesses where the credit card was used.

She was taken into custody without incident by Aurora police on Feb. 9 when they traveled to Sheridan and set up surveillance on her home.

Alequin eluded authorities until Friday, police said, when agents from the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force traced him to an Aurora hospital, where he was taken into custody without incident. Alequin also was wanted on a contempt of court warrant by the Kane County Sheriff's Office.

According to charging documents, Alequin and Barkes committed the robbery so they could get money for heroin.