Elgin man with 'live by the gun' tattoo gets 25 years for robbery
An Elgin man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for robbing a Citgo gas station in 2019.
Jeffrey D. Richardson, 30, will have to serve at least 50% of the sentence before being eligible for parole, according to a news release from the Kane County state's attorney's office.
A jury convicted Richardson in March of armed robbery with a firearm. Judge Donald Tegeler sentenced him on Friday.
Richardson robbed a Citgo station along Larkin Avenue on May 1, 2019.
He showed a handgun to the clerk and took approximately $1,240.
He fled north on Jane Drive and hid the loaded pistol in a bush in a yard less than 200 feet from a Larkin High School parking lot, authorities said.
He was arrested several minutes after the robbery, but the gun remained hidden until the homeowner found it 10 months later.
Assistant state's attorney's Joseph Cullen and Hannah Thayer prosecuted the case.
"When he was arrested, he had a large tattoo on his neck which proclaimed, 'Live by the gun Die by the gun,'" Thayer said in the news release.
"He will now serve a long prison sentence because he choose to live by the gun."
Richardson received credit for the more than two years he spent in the Kane County jail awaiting trial, plus credit for 69 days he participated in the jail's addiction recovery program.