Cousins sentenced to prison in armed robbery of Lisle Verizon store

The second of two cousins arrested on charges of robbing a Verizon store in Lisle at gunpoint in 2020 has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, authorities said.

Ezekiel Thompson, 30 and formerly of Aurora, pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery with a firearm and was sentenced Tuesday by a DuPage County judge, according to a news release from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

His cousin and co-defendant Arron Thompson, also 30, entered a blind plea of guilty to the same charge in September 2024 and was sentenced to 22 years.

Authorities say the two men, carrying guns and wearing hoods and masks over their faces, entered the Verizon store at 1104 Ogden Ave. on Feb. 1, 2020. Ezekiel Thompson pointed his gun at the lone employee, ordering him to the back to open a vault containing cellular phones.

At gunpoint, the two men then ordered the employee, who at one point begged the defendants not to kill him, to fill a duffel bag with cellular telephones and other electronics, according to prosecutors.

Afterward, the men bound the employee’s arms and legs with zip ties, stole his wallet and car keys and fled the scene with the duffel bag in the employee’s car.

Following an investigation by multiple departments, the men were later approached by police officers in an apartment complex parking lot in Woodridge, where they abandoned their vehicle and fled before being arrested after a brief foot chase.

They had been held in the DuPage County jail without bond since Feb. 3, 2020.