Police: Man free on bond for robbery steals woman’s purse

Saul Sandoval / photo from Riverside police

(RIVERSIDE) A man free on bond after being charged with robbing an elderly man in west suburban Riverside in August was arrested last weekend and charged with another robbery in Chicago.

On Nov. 15 in the 3100 of West 39th Place, Saul Sandoval threw a woman to the ground, punched her repeatedly and took her purse, according to a statement from Riverside police.

He was arrested nearby and later identified by the victim, police said.

Sandoval, 19, had been free after he posted 10 percent of an $85,000 bond on charges that he and a Cicero man beat a 70-year-old man and robbed him at gunpoint of $30,000 worth of jewelry on Aug. 3.

In that robbery, Sandoval, of the 2800 block of South Keeler Avenue, was charged with two counts of armed robbery and two counts of aggravated assault. Juan Ramos, 21, of the 4900 block of West 30th Street in Cicero, was charged with two counts of armed robbery and one count of aggravated battery to a senior citizen, police said.

The two men allegedly followed a jeweler from the Swap-O-Rama in Chicago to a home in the 100 block of East Burlington in Riverside about 5:30 p.m. Sunday, according to police.

The 70-year-old jeweler was beat up, pushed to the ground and had his shirt pulled over his face so he couldn’t see the suspects, who were masked and armed with a handgun, police said.

When the victim’s friend, a 76-year-old woman, came out to intervene, one of the suspects pointed the gun at her and said, “Stay out of this b—-,” police said. The man was robbed of $30,000 worth of jewelry.

Police obtained surveillance video of the victim’s car being followed out of the parking lot by the suspects’ car, and arrested Sandoval and Ramos, according to police. Both were identified in a lineup.

Ramos was released after posting 10 percent of a $75,000 bond but has since been taken into custody by federal immigration agents, police said.

Sandoval’s bond was set at $150,000 for the more recent robbery and he is being held at the Cook County Jail. He is next due in court on Friday.