Three teens arrested as suspects in Elgin armed robbery

Three teenagers were apprehended Friday morning in connection with an armed robbery in Elgin that had occurred about a half-hour earlier, police said.

Police say that at 11:29 p.m., the teens held up a 39-year-old man at gunpoint in the 300 block of Watch Court soon after the man pulled into a parking lot and got out of his car.

According to police: Two men got out of a gray Ford Taurus nearby, pointed handguns at the man and ordered him to hand over his property. They then took off in the Taurus with the Blackberry phone and $120 cash that the man had given them.

Using the description the victim gave, police at around midnight pulled a Taurus over at Clifton Avenue and Lillian Street.

During a lineup, the man identified Thomas E. White, 17, of the 6500 block of South Rockwell Street, Chicago, and Dante D. Howse, 19, of the 0-to-99 block of North Grove Street, Carpentersville, as the men who robbed him, police said.

The third man, Jahashi L. Hutton, 18, of the 0-99 block of Buckskin Lane, Streamwood, was driving the getaway car, police said.

White, Howse and Hutton were each charged with armed robbery with a firearm and armed violence, both of which are Class X felonies.

White and Howse face an additional charge for carrying a gun without a Firearm Owners Identification Card, a Class 3 felony.

Police recovered two 9 mm handguns from the Taurus. While one of them was loaded and reported stolen out of Beloit, Wis., the other gun did not contain any live rounds, police said.

A judge set bail Friday morning at $750,000 for White and $500,000 for Howse and Hutton. They need to post 10 percent of those amounts to get out of jail while their cases are pending.

All three men are scheduled to appear in court on May 11.

Those convicted of one Class X felonies could spend between six and 30 years in prison.