Man gets 24 years for kidnapping, robbing Wheaton College student

A man was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his role in kidnapping and robbing a Wheaton College student at gunpoint in west suburban Glen Ellyn.

A judge on Friday sentenced Jeremy Jones, 23, of Elgin, following his guilty plea to armed robbery, the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office said in a statement.

Jones, along with two other co-defendants, kidnapped the student on Aug. 26, 2016 in downtown Glen Ellyn and drove him to multiple ATMs and forced him to withdraw more than $1,500 from his account, prosecutors said.

Later that morning, they drove the victim to Chicago and released him, prosecutors said. He ran to the nearest building a called 911. Glen Ellyn police investigated the incident and arrested Jones the next month.

A third co-defendant, Timothy Jones, Jeremy Jones’ brother, was shot and killed in December 2017 in an unrelated matter, prosecutors said.

Jones has been held on $3 million bond since 2016 at DuPage County Jail, prosecutors said.

“This afternoon, Mr. Jones learned that his outrageous actions nearly two and one-half years ago will cost him a significant amount of time behind bars,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said.

Jones must serve 50 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, prosecutors said.