Lookout in Streamwood grocery robbery gets 15 years
The Chicago man convicted of serving as the lookout during an armed robbery of a Streamwood grocery store in 2012 was sentenced to 15 years in prison Tuesday.
Joseph Bobbitt, 49, received a 15-year sentence for unlawful use of a firearm and a 10-year sentence for armed robbery. He will serve the sentences concurrently, Cook County prosecutors said. He could have been sentenced to as much as 30 years in prison, according to state law.
Bobbitt, who has been in custody since the Oct. 23, 2012, robbery, will receive credit for the almost three years he's already spent behind bars awaiting trial and sentencing. He has to serve at least half his sentence.
Bobbitt was convicted by a jury in June. His attorney argued Bobbitt had no idea two co-defendants, Freddie Clemons, 45, and Derrick Shelby, 63, were planning to rob the grocery store. The attorney noted Bobbitt made no attempt to cover his face like the other two men and wore a bright, red shirt that made him easily identifiable. Prosecutors painted Bobbitt as an equal conspirator. The jury took two hours to convict Bobbitt.
During the robbery, only Clemons brandished a weapon and never fired it.
Police arrived while the robbery was in progress - alerted by a store manager who reported the trio acting suspiciously before the robbery - and immediately apprehended Shelby. Clemons and Bobbitt bolted from the store and ran through a nearby house trying to evade capture before eventually being found and arrested nearly an hour later.
Clemons was sentenced to 45 years in prison, while Shelby received a nine-year sentence.