3 Charged In Lake Bluff Armed Robbery, Chase Ending In Police Station

LAKE BLUFF, IL — Three Chicago men have been charged with eight felonies each in connection with an armed robbery and police chase beginning at a Lake Bluff shopping center. Around 4:13 p.m. Friday, the trio allegedly robbed the Verizon store inside the Carriage Way shopping center near the intersection of Waukegan and Rockland roads. Two of the three entered the store with a single semi-automatic weapon and made the clerks open the safe, according to Lake Bluff Deputy Chief Mike Hosking.

After tying up the store employees with zip ties and leaving them in the back of the store, the robbers fled in a vehicle that had been reported stolen out of Chicago on Tuesday, Hosking said. All staffers were unharmed in the incident, according to a news release from the village.

Dispatchers broadcast a description of the suspects — later identified as three South Side men with past felony convictions — to local police departments, and a chase ensued.

Police chased the Chicago men south for just over eight miles in the stolen car down Route 41 until crashing near the Jewel-Osco at West Deerfield Road, Hosking said. The fleeing suspects ditched the car and ran, with two of the three suspects accidentally running into the Highland Park Police Department and the other jumping over a wall next to the station where he was met by a cop.

According to Highland Park Deputy Chief Tim Wilinski two suspects were arrested in the lobby of the HPPD station, while the third suspect was arrested in a rear parking lot. Officers from Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Highland Park and Deerfield all contributed to the arrests, Wilinski said.

Cops found more than 20 cell phones or other pieces of electronic equipment, along with a firearm in the vehicle, according to Hosking. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Highland Park— or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

All three men have been booked into Lake County Jail.

Eddie L. Hill, 24, of the 9300 block of South King Drive, was charged with armed robbery, aggravated robbery, unlawful restraint, armed violence, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, two counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a defaced firearm, according to Lake Bluff police and the Lake County Sheriff's office.

Aries A. Rickenbacker, 22, of the 8000 block of South Vernon Avenue, faces identical charges.

Cordell C. Prince, 21, of the 0-100 block of East 100th Place, also has been charged with the same eight counts.

Hill and Prince are being held in lieu of $500,000 bail. Rickenbacker's bail was set at $750,000. All three have been assigned court dates on Oct. 5.

_{Location of the Lake Bluff Verizon Store, 235 Waukegan Road, via Google Maps.}

_{Top photo: Eddie L. Hill, Aries A. Rickenbacker, Cordell C. Prince | Lake County Sheriff's office}