Chicago man gets 25-year prison term for robbery at Marengo Circle K in which clerk shot

A Chicago man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the armed robbery of a Marengo gas station where an employee was shot.

Antonio Pedrote, 30, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of armed robbery, a Class X felony, according to a news release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office and court records.

By entering into the plea deal, Pedrote “accepted responsibility for his participation in the crime that he committed with other cohorts, who robbed a Circle K convenience store in Marengo,” according to the release.

On Feb. 24, 2021, “Pedrote was one of two masked offenders who robbed the store’s lone employee at 3:37 a.m. Pedrote held the victim at gunpoint and pistol-whipped him,” according to the release.

“After taking cash from the register, Pedrote demanded the victim open a safe. Although the victim did not have access to the safe, [Pedrote and Walter Moran of Cicero] accused him of refusing to open it and being a ‘hero,’” according to the release.

Video and audio of the scene were recorded on multiple surveillance cameras, which prosecutors said showed that Moran counted to three then shot the victim in the thigh, though the case against Moran is still pending.

“After the two gunmen realized that the victim could not meet their demands, they fled to a waiting getaway car being driven by a third defendant, Gregory Lee Garner, J.r., of Chicago,“ according to the release.

In 2023, Garner pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery and was sentenced to 13 years in prison, according to the release and court records.

In an unrelated Cook County case, Moran recently was convicted of kidnapping and aggravated vehicular hijacking and sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison, according to the release.

Pedrote is required to serve 85% of his sentence, followed by three years of mandatory supervised release, court documents show. He also was charged in Kane County with an armed robbery in Aurora for an incident that occurred the day after the Marengo robbery. In the Kane County case, Pedrote pleaded guilty on Feb. 21, 2024, to one count of armed robbery and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, of which he must serve half, followed by 18 months of mandatory supervised release, said Nicholas Jenz, public information officer for the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Pedrote will serve both sentences concurrently, the order in the McHenry County court signed by Judge Mark Gerhardt said. Moran, held in the county jail, is due in court July 31.