Uptown man free on bond is charged with robbing Roselle gas station at gunpoint

An 18-year-old Chicago man free on bond for criminal trespass to a vehicle has been charged in a weekend armed robbery at a gas station in Roselle.

Jerry Thomas Jr. faces a count each of armed robbery and aggravated robbery, according to a statement from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

Thomas allegedly robbed a Shell Gas station with two masked accomplices Saturday evening at Lake Street and Gary Avenue, prosecutors said.

Thomas allegedly jumped over a counter, grabbed the clerk from a side room and forced him at gunpoint to open two cash drawers, prosecutors said. The trio grabbed $300 and packs of cigarettes before running out the door, prosecutors said.

An officer was about 500 feet away when he was called to the robbery in progress. The officer ordered Thomas to stop running, but he kept going, prosecutors said.

Ten minutes later, a Hanover Park police officer found Thomas hiding under a van in the parking lot of a nearby hotel, prosecutors said.

Police found Thomas with a mask, $180 in cash and a 9mm handgun, prosecutors said. Officers found more cash and a 9mm magazine on the ground between the hotel and the gas station.

The two other suspects are not in custody.

At the time of the robbery, Thomas was free on bond for a criminal trespass to a vehicle charge from March in Chicago, according to Cook County court records.

A DuPage County judge ordered Thomas, of the Uptown neighborhood, held on an $850,000 bail, prosecutors said. His next court date is set for May 11.

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