The second of two men who pleaded guilty to a 2017 armed robbery at a Naperville gas station was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
DuPage County Judge Liam Brennan handed down the sentence Friday to 20-year-old Robert Hill of Carol Stream, according to a statement from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
On Oct. 15, 2017, Hill entered the Speedway gas station, 631 N. Route 59 in Naperville, with 23-year-old Willie Booker and a third suspect, prosecutors said. All three were wearing masks.
Booker pointed a handgun at the clerk, took the clerk’s phone out of his pocket and pointed the gun at his back, demanding that he open the cash register, according to prosecutors. He got angry at the clerk for “stalling” and hit him on the back of the head with the barrel of the gun.
He then forced the victim into a back room and placed a nearby garbage can against the door to trap him inside, prosecutors said. All three suspects ran away after the heist, but detectives were able to identify Booker and Hill and arrest them about two weeks later.
“Less than 24 hours after his co-defendant was sentenced to 18 years behind bars, Mr. Hill learned that he will be going away for 16 years for his role in this violent crime,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the statement. “Both of these men have certainly earned their sentences and Naperville is now a safer community with them off the streets.”
Booker and Hill each pleaded guilty to one felony count of armed robbery on Sept. 24, prosecutors said. Booker was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
The third robber has not yet been identified, prosecutors said.
