A DeKalb man with a history of robbery was charged this week after police alleged he approached another man coming out of Uptown Market, began talking with him, then pulled a gun and demanded the victim’s personal items.

Ernest Faulkner Jr., 23, was charged with aggravated robbery, a Class 1 felony, and robbery. If convicted of the most serious crime, he could face up to 30 years in prison.

DeKalb police responded about 8:34 p.m. on March 29 to the parking lot of Uptown Market, 1215 Blackhawk Road, for a reported robbery, court records filed March 30 show.

The victim, a man, told a police detective that a man approached him as he exited the store and began speaking with him. The victim said the man asked if he knew anyone who sold drugs. The man then told the victim he had a gun, told him to walk to the back of the building, “claiming that police were often in the area,” court records state.

The man demanded the victim’s cellphone and “everything in his pockets” while pointing what the victim said appeared to be a gun from inside his coat pocket.

The alleged robber took the man’s iPhone 16 and about $31 in cash, police wrote in court records.

Police allege that man was Faulkner, records state. Authorities allege Faulkner’s clothing and physical appearance matched the description provided by the victim, who later identified Faulkner as the alleged robber in a photo lineup, records state.

The market’s video surveillance captured the man on camera, police said. Police said they later spotted Faulkner wearing the same clothes, identifying him “from previous contacts,” records show.

Officers arrested Faulkner at his DeKalb apartment. He told investigators that he was at Uptown Market and got into a verbal argument with the victim. Police found a coat – the same coat on the surveillance footage – in Faulkner’s apartment with $31 inside the pocket.

It’s not Faulkner’s first time facing such charges, records show. He’s been charged five times before with robbery in DeKalb, according to court records.

Faulkner was among three charged in June 2024 connected to a robbery of a man in the University Heights Apartments parking lot. He pleaded guilty on Dec. 24, 2022, to aggravated battery in that case. He was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Philip Montgomery to three years and six months in the Illinois Department of Corrections, and was given credit for 183 days he’d spent in the county jail.

On Sept. 9, 2022, Faulkner pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with a firearm and was sentenced to four years in the IDOC, records show. On April 14, 2022, as part of a plea agreement connected to a November 2021 robbery, he was entered into DeKalb County’s CLEAN program. “Choosing Life and Ending Abuse Now” is a rehabilitative court-ordered program for people facing substance abuse and addiction challenges, meant to serve as an alternative option to prison time.

On the new charges, prosecutors with the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a motion this week to deny Faulkner pretrial release, records show. That motion was granted on March 30 by Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick.

Faulkner remains in custody pending trial. His next court date is 1:30 p.m. May 7.