Last week's armed robberies of U.S. Cellular stores in Dixon and Rock Falls, which mirror a rash of such take-over robberies in the Rockford area over the summer, have local officials working with the FBI to track down the gunmen.
Locally, police are looking for three black or dark-skinned men – likely the same three, they say – who robbed Next Generation Wireless, a U.S. Cellular agent at 1021 First Ave. in Rock Falls, shortly before 8 p.m. Nov. 8 and the U.S. Cellular store at 166 Keul Road in Dixon around 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10.
In both cases, one man flashed a handgun, and all wore masks. Both times, they tied up employees, took cash and merchandise and fled in a dark gray car. Both robberies took less than 10 minutes.
There have been several strikingly similar robberies in Rockford recently. With few variations, they were committed by two or three armed black men in their 20s, their faces masked with bandanas or otherwise hidden, who entered a store, moved employees and customers to a back room, made them open a safe, tied them up, grabbed money and electronics and fled in about 10 minutes or less, often in a gray sedan. Physical injuries inflicted, if any, were minor.
As of Wednesday, no local arrests had been reported.
Police are working with the FBI, and have turned up some promising leads, Chief Danny Langloss confirmed.
"We are working with other agencies, and we hope to have some information soon," Rock Falls Police Chief Tammy Nelson said. "It looks like our incident in our town is not an isolated incident – they are happening all around us – and it looks as if the suspect pool is pretty similar to ours, so we're checking into that."
As a matter of policy, the FBI does not comment on ongoing investigations, agency spokesman Garrett Croon said. He also could not say whether investigators suspect an organized ring, or whether the crimes might be gang-related.
In general, "it is common for law enforcement, both federal and state, to work together on violent crimes," Croon said, declining further comment.
The FBI is involved in several regional cases, though. At least one suspect arrested this summer in a Rockton robbery, a known member of a Chicago street gang, was turned over to the FBI. The agency, working with local law enforcement, also broke a ring of eight cellphone store thieves operating in the Chicago suburbs and Indiana in 2014.
When an investigation turns federal, so do the penalties.
In Illinois, aggravated robbery most often carries 3 to 7 years in prison, although sentence enhancements are possible under some circumstances.
Participants in organized, armed take-over robberies, however, can be charged with violating the federal Hobbs Act.
The 1946 law, originally meant to combat racketeering in labor-management disputes, targets those who obstruct, delay, or affect commerce by robbery or extortion, or who conspire to do so, or who commit or threaten physical violence to people or property while doing so.
It's being applied to that Chicago-area crew, which robbed at least 10 cellphone stores and terrorized employees from Jan. 28 to Dec. 14, 2013. The ringleader, Eric Rogers of Hazel Crest, will be sentenced in February for conspiracy to rob, and for using a firearm during a crime of violence.
He faces up to 20 years on the first charge, and 7 years to life for using a gun, terms to run consecutively, along with a fine of up to $500,000 and restitution. And there is no parole in the federal prison system.
Rogers and one of his co-conspirators were caught that Dec. 14 in the parking lot of a T-Mobile store in Woodridge they had just robbed. They also hit cellphone stores in Norridge, Addison, Deerfield, West Dundee, Belvidere, East Peoria, and Joliet, and two stores in Indiana.
It was a lucrative enterprise. According to court documents, in less than a year, the gang netted cash and 550 cellphones, tablets and other electronics worth about $383,000, from eight of the 10 stores.
The local robberies have changed the way at least one local store is doing business.
Gabriel Shaw is manager at Razor Replay, a U.S. Cellular agent at 2536 E. Lincolnway in Sterling.
His company has given employees the standard advice when dealing with a robbery – "don't fight with them or anything like that," Shaw said – but since the second robbery in Dixon, "we lock our doors after it gets dark and let our customers in individually."
OTHER ROBBERIES
Last week’s armed robberies of cellphone stores in Rock Falls and Dixon are similar to – or in some cases, near-carbon-copies of – others recently in the Rockford area. According to police and media reports:
Three days later, police arrested Deante Brown, 21, a member of the Gangster Disciples, who was turned over to the FBI’s Rockford Area Violent Crimes Task Force. He is charged with armed robbery, possession with intent to deliver marijuana, armed violence, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, no FOID card, and resisting arrest. Federal charges may be pending, but for now, he still is being prosecuted by Winnebago County.
Although the robberies took place nearly 300 miles apart, Police Chief Jason Simmons told The (Alton) Telegraph at the time that the two might be linked to the June 19 robbery, and to Sprint cellphone store robberies in Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis that had occurred several months before.
HAVE A TIP
Anyone with any information on either robbery is asked to call Rock Falls police, 815-622-1140, or Whiteside County Crime Stoppers, 815-625-7867, or Dixon police, 815-288-4411, or Lee-Ogle Crime Stoppers at 888-228-4488.