Fingerprints on DVD leads cops to suspect

Elgin police say fingerprints on a DVD dropped during the armed robbery of a video rental store on Feb. 22, 2008, led to the capture of one of the robbers.

Luis Fernando Franco-Avalos, 18, of the 6600 block of Hunters Path in Cary was charged in court Tuesday with armed robbery after he was arrested Monday evening by McHenry County sheriff's police.

A clerk at Mande Usted, 1221 Dundee Ave. in Elgin, told police that three men entered the store at 7:03 p.m. on Feb. 22. One pointed a black revolver at her and demanded money.

She opened the cash register and the trio fled with about $500 in cash along with DVDs and prepaid telephone cards they had scooped up.

After the robbery, Elgin police found a DVD of "El Aguila Real," in front of the store and figured it was dropped in haste by one of the robbers.

Fingerprints were lifted from it and sent to the state crime lab.

The results came back, saying they belonged to Franco-Avalos, who previously spent 46 days in the Cook County jail for possession of drug paraphernalia, police said.

The owner told Elgin police the video had arrived at the store that day and was immediately placed under the counter, so there was no way that anyone other than the robber and the clerk could have touched it.

Elgin police say they now know the identities of the two other accused robbers - one is a juvenile - and expect their arrests within the next few days.

Bond was set at $25,000. Franco-Avalos is in the Kane County jail and has a Dec. 31 court date at the Kane County Judicial Center.