3 charged with robbing DePaul student who cops say lied about kidnapping

One woman and two men were charged Monday with robbing a 19-year-old DePaul University student at gunpoint during an arranged meet-up in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, nearly four days after police said the student lied about being kidnapped near the school’s Lincoln Park campus.

Officers arrested the suspects — Tarika Gilmore, an 18-year-old from East Garfield Park, Deaaron Jackson, a 27-year-old from Humboldt Park, and Lasam Davis, a 24-year-old from Fifth City — on Friday upon finding the 19-year-old’s stolen belongings inside a deserted building, according to a statement from Chicago police.

The location’s address was in the same West Garfield Park block where the 19-year-old said he was brought to at gunpoint in a Jan. 8 robbery, police said. But he apparently showed up there on his own, expecting a tryst with a woman.

About 8 p.m. Tuesday, the student voluntarily went to the empty apartment in the 4200 block of West Wilcox to meet up with Gilmore, police said. He was robbed at gunpoint by her, Jackson and Davis once he arrived.

The 19-year-old appeared to have connected with Gilmore after searching for cheap escorts online, according to Chicago police spokeswoman Sally Brown.

Gilmore, Jackson and Davis each face a felony count of armed robbery with a firearm and a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to real property, police said.

All three appeared before Judge David Navarro on Monday and were ordered held without bail, according to Cook County court records. Their next court date was set for Friday.

The three were caught Friday night, when patrolling CPD officers noticed a light on inside a vacant apartment building about 10:15 p.m. in the 4200 block of West Wilcox, police said.

They knocked on the back door — and out the front door ran Gilmore, Jackson and Davis, police said. All three told the officers they did not live in the apartment.

Officers, being aware of a “robbery pattern” surrounding that address, found a stash of stolen property inside, including the 19-year-old’s items, police said.

Police said the 19-year-old had told investigators the trio forced him into a vehicle at gunpoint as he walked through an alley in the Lincoln Park neighborhood’s 900 block of West Montana and drove him to the empty West Side house. After stealing his debit card, cell phone and other belongings, he told officers, they allowed him run away unharmed.

On Thursday, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi posted on Twitter that the student was not robbed or kidnapped anywhere in Lincoln Park, adding that “this also was not a random incident.”

Chicago police initially announced Gilmore, Jackson and Davis’ charges about 3 a.m. Monday in a press release that detailed the 19-year-old’s account of being kidnapped, contradicting Guglielmi’s earlier statement.

An hour later, CPD retracted that narrative and said he was actually robbed at gunpoint at the Lincoln Park address.

A second correction Monday clarified there was neither a kidnapping nor a robbery in Lincoln Park, and the 19-year-old showed up at the West Garfield Park address on his own accord.

Chicago police declined to provide further details on the investigation.