Police: Parolee who went on robbery spree charged in Northbrook

Charges have been filed in Northbrook against a 27-year-old man accused of dressing as a woman while going on a north suburban robbery spree earlier this month, just three days after he was released on parole.

Christopher A. Hornezes faces one count of felony armed robbery, Northbrook police announced Friday.

An employee told investigators he was in the back room of a business in the 300 block of Skokie Boulevard preparing to close the business about 9 p.m. April 8 when Hornezes, wearing women’s clothing, entered the room armed with a knife, police said.

He demanded money, and the employee gave him cash from the register, police said.

The hold-up was Hornezes’ second stop during a three-day crime spree after stealing a car in Waukegan April 7 and robbing two more stores in Lincolnshire and Gurnee early April 9, authorities allege.

He was arrested in Chicago later that day, and had been held by the Illinois Department of Corrections for violating parole, according to Lincolnshire police.

On Thursday, Hornezes was ordered held in the Cook County Jail on a $150,000 bond for the Northbrook robbery, police said. He is due back in court May 18. Charges are pending in the Lincolnshire heist.

The Zion resident had been released on parole for a previous burglary conviction three days before the Lincolnshire robbery, according to IDOC.