Cary man guilty of convenience store robbery, attack

A Cary man faces up to 35 years in prison after a jury convicted him of robbing a Crystal Lake convenience store and beating the clerk with a metal pipe.

Daniel T. Charneski, 24, will be sentenced on Sept. 9 in McHenry County Court in Woodstock.

Charneski was convicted of armed robbery and aggravated assault in a Jan. 9, 2007, attack at a White Hen Pantry. Armed with a metal pipe, Charneski and another man robbed the store of $735 and cigarettes before beating the female clerk with a pipe, authorities said.

The clerk needed 26 staples to treat three cuts on her head, authorities said.

Charneski later confessed on videotape to the crime.

The other defendant in the case, Stephen L. Waters, 27, formerly of Carpentersville, pleaded guilty to armed robbery in October 2008.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the 2007 attack and another in October 2006, according to court records.