4 years' prison for teen's role in 2018 Aurora drug deal turned robbery
A Chicago teen has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in a 2018 drug deal-turned-robbery in Aurora in which one man was shot by police.
Tyrone T. Smith, 18, of the 300 block of West 106th Place, was sentenced by Kane County Judge Kathryn Karayannis last week after pleading guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm without a Firearm Owner's Identification card, which is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
In exchange for the plea, Kane County prosecutors dismissed more severe charges of armed robbery with a firearm and armed violence, both felonies that if convicted carried six- to 30-year prison terms with no chance of probation, records show.
According to Aurora police, Smith and two other men went to an apartment on the 1100 block of Farnsworth Avenue to buy drugs but once inside, pulled out guns, stole the merchandise and escaped before the victims called police.
A patrol officer who was in the police station parking lot nearby heard the call and responded to the northwest corner of Indian Trial and Farnsworth, where a short chase ensued, police said.
Authorities said the chase ended with an “armed confrontation” between the officer and Giovanni A. Padilla, 27, of Aurora, who was shot once, police said. Officers gave him first aid before paramedics took Padilla to a hospital for his wound. A gun and drugs were recovered at the scene, and the officer was not injured.
Other officers converged on the area to search for Smith, who was arrested in a backyard on the 700 block of Trask Street, and Michael C. Paige, 19, of Montgomery, who was arrested in a backyard on the 800 block of Trask, police said. Neither suspect was injured, and another gun and drugs were recovered, police said.
Padilla and Paige have been held at the Kane County jail on $375,000 and $250,000 bail, respectively, and are both charged with armed robbery, armed violence and other felonies. Padilla also faces three counts of aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting arrest in connection to a Dec. 1, 2018 incident at the jail, records show.
Padilla is due in court Sept. 12, and Paige is due in court Sept. 19 for a possible plea, records show.
Paige's defense attorney, Michael Tepper, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Under state law, Smith can have his sentenced cut in half for good behavior in prison and he also gets credit for about more than 10 months served at the Kane County jail, where he was held on $250,000 bail while the charges were pending.