COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The man police caught robbing a Subway this weekend was behind a string of fast-food robberies across the Southwest Side, prosecutors said Monday.
Samuel Ferrara, 23, has been charged with 18 felonies, including theft, armed robbery, attempted armed robbery and unlawful use of a weapon.
Police caught Ferrara Friday night as he tried to rob a Subway at 6456 W. 63rd St. The Garfield Ridge man had walked into the store, which was under police surveillance, and pulled an unloaded gun, police and prosecutors said.
In court Monday, Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti laid out a case against Ferrara, which includes 11 separate complaints between June 22, 2014 and Friday.
In each instance, prosecutors said, Ferrara walked into a Subway or Wingstop restaurant, pulled a knife or gun, and took cash from the register. He's also been known to hop the counter and take the entire register with him, Antonietti said.
When police arrested Ferrara on Friday, he admitted to robbing the restaurants and said he needed cash for his heroin addiction, according to Antonietti.
Ferrara was carrying a 6-inch pocket knife and a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson semiautomatic handgun, according to a police report. Several store employees positively identified Ferrara.
Court records show some of the targeted restaurants include:
• Subway, 4735 S. Cicero Ave., robbed Oct. 31 and Jan. 13
• Subway, 5409 S Harlem Ave., robbed Jan. 13
• Subway, 3205 W. 63rd St., robbed Jan. 24
• Subway, 6456 W. 63rd St., robbed Jan. 7 and Feb. 6
Ferrara's public defender said his client spent two years in the National Guard and currently lives with his family in the 6600 block of West 59th Street. The National Guard could not immediately be reached.
Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered Ferrara held in lieu of $300,000 bail.
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