Aug. 31, 2015 – A vehicle taken at gunpoint in an early morning carjacking in northwest Oak Park last week and used in an armed robbery later the same day in a local hospital parking garage led to the arrest of three Chicago men.
Oak Park Police, working with Chicago Police Department detectives, arrested Jamiah Lyons, 19, of the 6100 block of S. Michigan Ave., and Dennis Bradford, 18, of the 6000 block of S. California Ave. A third man, Cleo Rice, Jr., 18, of the 7300 block of S. Marshfield St., also was arrested in connection with another vehicle found at the scene that had been reported stolen in Cicero.
The men were arrested Wednesday near 82nd Street and Ashland Avenue, still in possession of the vehicle stolen in Oak Park.
Lyons was charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking and armed robbery. Bradford was charged with unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of a controlled substance. Both men are being held in Cook County Jail, Lyons in lieu of a $500,000 bond and Bradford in lieu of a $35,000 bond.
Rice was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass to a motor vehicle and was released after posting 10 percent of a $1,500 bond.
The Oak Park carjacking occurred at about 1:30 a.m., Aug. 25, as its two occupants were parked on Greenfield Street, just east of Belleforte Avenue near Lindberg Park.
The carjacking victim, a Chicago resident, told police he and his companion were approached by two men, one displaying a handgun, ordered out of the vehicle, robbed of their personal items and forced to lie down on the grass while their assailants drove away in the victim’s car.
The second armed robbery occurred at about 8:50 a.m. in the parking garage of West Suburban Medical Center, on Erie Court, just west of Austin Boulevard. The victim told police the assailant approached her as she walked from her car to the elevator, displayed a handgun and took her purse, which contained a wallet with $150 in cash, identification and credit cards.
A construction worker in another part of the building saw a vehicle leave the garage at the time of the robbery and gave police a description, which matched that of the vehicle stolen earlier in northwest Oak Park.
An attempt to use a credit card taken in the parking garage robbery led police to the area where the stolen car was found and the arrests made.
“Geographic boundaries and government jurisdictions are not that important to criminals when they are on the prowl, which is precisely why cooperation among law enforcement agencies often is essential to catching them,” said Oak Park Police Chief Rick C. Tanksley.
“Thanks to the strong, working relationship we have with the Chicago Police Department we were able to follow the evidence from the scene to an arrest, even though the suspects had left the Village. The cooperation and support of Chicago Police investigators were critical to making these arrests possible.”
Jamiah Lyons
Dennis Bradford
Cleo Rice Jr.