One Arrested After Car Chase, Two At Large, in Armed Robbery at Subway

A Chicago man with an extensive criminal record has been arrested and two others remain at large in connection with an Oct. 27 late evening armed robbery at Subway, 319 Harlem Ave.

Valentin W. Efrain, 29, appeared for a bond hearing this morning at Maybrook Court. Details were not available.

He was apprehended in the early morning hours of Oct. 28 after a car chase through Berwyn with Forest Park police, Dep. Chief Tom Aftanas said.

The owner told police that three males, wearing hooded sweatshirts, entered the store around 11:35 p.m. and went to the rear where the owner was washing dishes. One subject, later identified as Valentin, pointed a small caliber gun at the owner and ordered him to come to the front of the store. The two other suspects escorted the owner to the front and ordered him to take the money from the register, about $300, Aftanas said.

Valentin and another suspect then took him to the rear of the store, where Valentin pointed a gun at him and ordered him to open the safe. He and the other suspect removed money, about $1,300, from the safe. They also took the restaurant's phone and a cell phone and fled, Aftanas said.

Aftanas said the owner called police and gave authorities a description of the clothing.

An officer in the parking lot at Thortons at Harlem and Jackson saw a car speed by on Harlem with three men wearing hooded sweatshirts inside. The officer pulled behind the 2001 Ford Focus and notified dispatch, activated his lights and pursued the speeding car south on Harlem. A high-speed chase ensued.

The auto went west on 19th Street in Berwyn, where the occupants bailed out of the auto in the alley between the 1800 block of Maple and Wisconsin avenues in Berwyn, Aftanas said.

A search conducted by officers and a police dog found Efrain laying down in the backyard of a home in the 1800 block of Wisconsin. He was carrying the cash and the cell phone, Aftanas said.

The gun has not yet been recovered.

Efrain has been arrested 26 times and convicted six times for robbery, drugs, larceny and various traffic offenses, Aftanas said.

The Subway was hit by two burglaries earlier this month. Devon Lawery, 19, of the 4600 block of Monroe Street in Chicago, stands accused of them as well as two at JJ Fish, located in the same strip mall.

Lawery is being held without bond in the Cook County Jail, according to the Sheriff's Office.

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