Rolling Meandows teen charged with robbing friend

A teenager faces armed robbery charges for allegedly holding a semi-automatic handgun to a friend's neck in Hoffman Estates and stealing money, a hand-held wireless devise and a video game system, officials said Saturday.

Malcolm Jack Whitehead, 19, of Rolling Meadows, was invited into a friend's residence in the 700 block of Bode Circle in Hoffman Estates on Thursday morning, authorities said. But when his 25-year-old friend turned his back, Whitehead stuck a gun to the back of his friend's neck and robbed him, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Jerome R. Allen said during Whitehead's court hearing Saturday in Rolling Meadows.

The friend was hit in the head with the gun and forced to sit in the bathtub while Whitehead took $60, a Blackberry and a PlayStation 3 computer game system, Allen said.

Cook County Associate Judge John J. Scotillo set bond at $50,000 for Whitehead, a Harper College student who has a pending aggravated battery case in McHenry County. A court date was set for 9 a.m. Nov. 21 in courtroom 108.