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Delivery Drivers Robbed Four Times in One Day on Same Block, Police Say

By Kelly Bauer | July 31, 2015 12:18pm | Updated on August 3, 2015 11:50am
 Police say delivery drivers were robbed four times in one day in the same block of North Lawndale.
Police say delivery drivers were robbed four times in one day in the same block of North Lawndale.
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Flickr/diversey

CHICAGO — Delivery drivers were robbed at gun- and knifepoint four times in one day on the same block, police say.

The robberies happened in the 1300 block of South Keeler Avenue in North Lawndale from early to late Monday, according to an alert issued by Chicago Police on Friday. During the robberies, food delivery drivers were approached by a man who had a gun or knife and robbed, police say.

The string of robberies kicked off at 12:29 a.m. and continued at 2:30 a.m., with two more robberies later in the day at 11:40 and 11:44 p.m., said Officer Ana Pacheco, Chicago Police spokeswoman.

The offenders are described as 18- to 25-year-old black men who are 5 feet, 2 inches to 5 feet, 11 inches tall and 100-130 pounds with brown eyes and black hair, police say. One of the men had dreadlocks, police say.

Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to call police at 312-747-8382.

Delivery drivers were also targeted in nearby Austin earlier in July, with three being robbed at gunpoint July 1-10.

And earlier in the year, a driver who asked to be identified only as Connie said she had been robbed four times in four winters, once at gunpoint, as a driver, according to a March 9 DNAinfo story.

At the time, Martin Maloney, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, said "this type of robbery is not common." He said robberies citywide were down 6 percent from March 2014 to this March.

Some restaurant owners and drivers disagreed, with Miguel De Arcos, of De Arcos Pizza in South Chicago, saying his drivers were being targeted once a week on average.

"It's not a very safe job," said Craig Gernhardt, 53. Gernhardt was using a bike to make deliveries in Rogers Park and Edgewater. "You're driving around all alone without any protection, with cash, and you're being called to an address where you have no idea who's there waiting for you."

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