Three charged with choking, robbing drug dealer in Wheeling

(WHEELING) Two men and a teenage girl were arrested after they allegedly choked and robbed a drug dealer last month in northwest suburban Wheeling.

Miguel Perez, 21, Eddie Echevarria, 19, and a 17-year-old girl contacted a teenage boy to purchase marijuana from him on Sept. 25, and the boy got into a vehicle with them, according to a statement from Wheeling police.

While the vehicle was traveling at Strong Avenue and First Street, Perez and Echevarria attacked the 17-year-old boy, holding him down and choking him with a cord while demanding that he give them the marijuana, police said.

The girl went through his pockets and took the drugs and multiple other items, and the victim was then ordered out of the vehicle, police said.

The three suspects were interviewed by detectives and admitted their involvement in the robbery, police said.

Perez, of the 300 block of Plum Creek Drive in Wheeling, and Echevarria, of the 100 block of Dundee Road in Wheeling, were each charged with felony counts of robbery and aggravated battery, police said. The girl was also charged with robbery.

Perez was ordered held on a $225,000 bond Friday, while Perez’s bond was set at $75,000, police said. Their next court date is scheduled for Nov. 14 in Rolling Meadows.