Man sentenced in Red Bull heists

William Moctezuma worked as a security guard and studied to be a cop.

But, instead of upholding the law, authorities said he ended up on the opposite side of it.

Moctezuma was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison for armed robbery. Authorities said he was involved in two brazen heists of trucks carrying the Red Bull energy drink. They occurred in Elmhurst and Woodridge.

The 27-year-old Chicago man must serve half the prison term before being eligible for parole. He faced up to 30 years behind bars.

A co-defendant, Samer Bader, 31, of Glen Ellyn, was sentenced last month to 24 years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping.

The police investigation began March 6, 2006, after a trucker was attacked outside Sam's Club in Woodridge. The gunmen tied up the trucker, placed a hood over his head and hijacked him and his haul of Red Bull.

He freed himself and, after being beaten, was left on a road in Romeoville, officials said.

Police were chasing leads when, three weeks later, March 24, 2006, the two gunmen confronted the same trucker and three other employees at Power Distributing warehouse in Elmhurst. The victims were tied up at gunpoint before their assailants fled with the stolen goods.

A total of 1,487 cases of Red Bull worth nearly $48,000 were stolen in both heists. One worker was so terrified, he quit his job. The other man, targeted twice, said his sense of security is gone.

"I really thought my life would end this time," he said in court Monday. "I got away the first time, but I thought there was no way they would let me live now."

Elmhurst police detective John Tarpey got a break in the case when a tipster identified Bader in the surveillance footage after it was made public. Moctezuma was arrested at his job in Franklin Park. Tarpey said Bader paid Moctezuma $1,000. Bader was arrested in New York.

Defense attorney Richard Kayne characterized Moctezuma as Bader's stooge who did all the grunt work, such as loading the truck, but never intended to harm anyone. Kayne sought leniency, noting Moctezuma's clean record, cooperation with police, family support and efforts to better himself in jail. Many relatives and friends wrote support letters.

Prosecutor Kenneth Tatarelis said Moctezuma may have a clean record, but he admitted committing other crimes with Bader in which they did not get caught. Tatarelis said Moctezuma was "the muscle behind Samer Bader's criminal enterprise."

DuPage Circuit Judge Robert Anderson agreed the defendant was not the mastermind, but he still played an active role.

"This conduct was really cold," Anderson said. "It was really calculated. He did this just to make money."