Man gets 38-year sentence for convenience store robberies
A man has been sentenced to 38 years in prison for robbing a Speedway gas station and a 7-Eleven convenience store on the same day in DuPage County.
Robert Howard, 31, of Chicago, pleaded guilty July 25 to two counts of armed robbery with a firearm, according to a news release from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office. Judge Daniel Guerin sentenced him Thursday.
Howard was charged with robbing the Speedway at Fairview and Maple avenues in Downers Grove at 2:42 p.m. June 15, 2021, and the 7-Eleven store on 14th Street in Oakbrook Terrace at 3:38 p.m.
In the Downers Grove case, Howard was accused of taking an item out of a cooler, walking to the cash registers, and raising his shirt to show he had a gun in the waistband of his pants, the release stated.
He went behind the counter and told the clerk, “Open the register. I’m gonna shoot you if you don’t give me the money.” When the clerk was unable to open the second cash register, Howard took two packs of cigarettes and fled, according to the release.
In Oakbrook Terrace, Howard entered the store, filled out a job application while waiting for other people to leave the store, then showed the clerk a handgun and took $400, police said.
He was arrested almost a week later.
Howard was on parole at the time of the crimes.
Court records indicate Howard will have to serve at least 50% of the sentence before being eligible for parole. He received four years of credit for the time he has been held in the county jail, plus for classes and other programming he has participated in while detained.
When he was charged, court records indicate Howard lived in Westmont. Later, court records filed by his attorney said he had been living in Naperville.