Gurnee man gets 10 years in prison for deli robbery

A Gurnee man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for a restaurant robbery he was linked to by DNA on his sunglasses.

Jeremy Hower, 33, was convicted of robbery and burglary after a trial in December.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Ken LaRue said Hower, of 1840 N. Delany Road, entered the Smilers Food and Deli at 1810 Delany Road during the morning of Nov. 16, 2006. Wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses, Hower went behind the counter, pushed a clerk aside and opened a cash drawer not visible to the public.

He fled after taking about $4,800 from the drawer, but not before he dropped his sunglasses at the store.

Police suspected from the beginning the robber was someone who was familiar with the layout of the non-public areas of the store, and they discovered that Hower's wife had once worked there.

The sunglasses were sent to the crime lab, where DNA tests of sweat left on them came back with a 1 in 63.8 billion chance they were last worn by someone other than Hower.

Hower agreed to give a DNA sample to police when they questioned him immediately after the robbery. He later refused to answer further questions after the test was complete.

LaRue said Hower also was convicted of burglary in Georgia in 1994 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Sentencing was delayed in the Gurnee case because Hower injured his back shortly after the trial, and officials wanted to wait for his medical care to end prior to holding the hearing.