COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — An Englewood man has been charged in a string of armed robberies that targeted South Side cell phone stores this summer.
According to prosecutors, Joel Davis, 28, was a gunman or accomplice in at least four robberies spanning six weeks.
The first occurred on June 25 when Davis and two other men walked into a South Chicago cell phone store at 9040 S. Commercial Ave. and demanded cash, Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said Friday.
One of Davis' accomplices had a gun, Scaduto said, and the trio made off with $700.
A few days later, on June 30, Davis walked into a Cricket Wireless at 8555 S. Cottage Grove Rd. armed with a handgun, Scaduto said. According to prosecutors, he ordered customers to the ground and took more than $2,000 cash.
Davis went on to rob the same store less than a month later, on July 28. prosecutors said. He and an accomplice took cash from the register, stole an employee's personal cell phone and asked where the Chatham shop kept its high-end phones. Prosecutors said Davis, who had a gun, made off with six phones from a back room.
And on August 7, Davis and an accomplice robbed a Washington Heights Cricket Wireless at 10356 S. Halsted St., Scaduto said. The pair took $600 and six Samsung Galaxy phones before forcing the store's employees into a bathroom and running off, according to prosecutors and court records.
Davis was charged this week with four counts of felony armed robbery. Scaduto said he's currently awaiting trial for two similar robbery cases, which happened in August in the 5900 and 7600 blocks of South Kedzie Avenue.
Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois ordered Davis held without bail, despite a request from Davis' attorney for a more lenient bond.
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