Joliet man charged with robbing gas station with knife

A Joliet man has been charged with robbing a gas station while armed with a knife.

On Saturday, Markese Rhodes, 25, was transported to the Will County jail on charges of armed robbery and robbery.

An employee of Citgo gas station, 356 Scott St., Joliet, reported to police officers that Rhodes entered the store, placed items in a backpack and demanded money from her, according to a petition to deny Rhodes’ pretrial release from prosecutors.

The employee texted the manager of the gas station, who tried to stop Rhodes and struggled with him outside the gas station, prosecutors said.

Rhodes was accused of pulling out a knife, threatening the manager while resisting and fleeing on a bicycle, prosecutors said.

Rhodes was later arrested on Scott Street, where officers found he had three knives on him and a crack pipe, prosecutors said.

Will County Judge Derek Ewanic granted prosecutors’ request to keep Rhodes in jail under the SAFE-T Act.

The armed robbery case against Rhodes marks the 13th case filed against him in Will County since 2020.

Between 2020 and 2023, Rhodes was charged with six misdemeanor cases regarding charges of retail theft, battery, trespassing and public indecency.

Prosecutors dismissed those six cases in 2024 following a plea deal with Rhodes in two separate felony cases, court records show.

Rhodes pleaded guilty to grabbing a woman in a restaurant parking lot on Sept. 11, 2023 and stabbing a man on Nov. 29, 2023, according to court records.

Rhodes was sentenced to serve half of a two-year prison sentence. He was credited with 417 days already served in custody.

Besides the armed robbery case, Rhodes has been charged this year with four misdemeanor cases involving theft and retail theft, as well as one felony retail theft case.

Prosecutors dismissed one of the misdemeanor cases after Rhodes agreed to plead guilty to retail theft on April 1. Rhodes was sentenced to a year of conditional discharge, which is similar to probation.