DNA Links Suspect To 2015 Orland Square Parking Lot Robbery: Cops

ORLAND PARK, IL -- Orland Park detectives made an arrest in a 2015 vehicular invasion case by matching DNA to a Hazel Crest man, prosecutors said. David Gamble, 24, was charged with felony vehicular invasion and robbery. He appeared Friday in court wearing a Cartel t-shirt.

In October 2015, a woman had just gotten into her car in the parking lot near the Cheesecake Factory, when a man reached through her open driver’s side door and grabbed her blue wallet and shopping bag that were on the passenger’s seat, the prosecutor said. She was able to scratch the man’s face. Swabs for DNA were taken from under the woman’s fingernails.

The DNA was sent to the Illinois State Crime Lab. The results linked Gamble to the crime, the prosecutor said. Gamble was arrested during a traffic stop on Jan. 25. When asked about the 2015 robbery, the prosecutor said Gamble stopped talking to police.

>>> Police Searching for Suspect in Robbery at Orland Square Mall

Gamble was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2016, for which he received two years’ probation. No violation of probation was filed because the alleged robbery predated the 2016 offence, the prosecutor said.

A pretrial assessment flagged Gamble for violence. Bail was set at $100,000. Gamble was ordered to have no contact with the woman and to surrender any weapons to Orland Park police. The judge also told him to stay away from Orland Square Mall. Gamble is due back in court Feb. 19.

“I give my detectives a lot of credit in these types of cases for being persistent, they never give up,” said Commander Tony Farrell of the Orland Park Police Department. “This was an example of great police work.”