DIXON – A Kankakee man involved in a string of cellphone store robberies in Dixon, Rock Falls and elsewhere was sentenced to 13 years in prison Thursday.

David M. Kendrick, 24, pleaded guilty in Lee County Court to conspiracy to commit armed robbery, a felony that carries a sentence of 4 to 15 years.

In 2016, Next Generation Wireless, a U.S. Cellular agent at 1021 First Ave. in Rock Falls, was robbed shortly before 8 p.m. Nov. 8, and the U.S. Cellular store at 166 Keul Road in Dixon was hit around 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10.

Both involved three black men with handguns, all of whom 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. In the Dixon robbery, two men remained outside the store as lookouts.

Kendrick and two other Kankakee men, Eddie D. Clark, 21, and Michael Lane-Calhoun, 25, were arrested about 2 weeks later, and Anthony K. Jamerson, 24, also of Kankakee, turned himself in to the Dixon Police Department a week after the arrests.

Kendrick was scheduled to go to trial at the end of the month before pleading, and he was charged with armed robbery, which carries 6 to 30 years in prison; conspiracy to commit armed robbery and aggravated robbery, both of which carry 4 to 15 years; conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, which carries 3 to 7 years; and unlawful restraint, which carries 1 to 3 years.

He will serve his sentence at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill.