COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Two men punctured a victim's eardrum during a violent robbery spree that ended on a Blue Line "L" train early Saturday, prosecutors said.
The first attack happened near Belmont and Halsted when Oscar Suarez, 28, and Keith Perkins, 23, "got into an altercation" with a man around 4:50 a.m., Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said during a bond hearing Monday.
Suarez and Perkins began to punch and kick the man — eventually puncturing his eardrum and breaking his left kneecap, court records show.
The pair took the victim's phone, Scaduto said, and tried unsuccessfully to take his car keys before leaving.
Two hours later, Suarez and Perkins boarded the Red Line "L" train and headed south, where they transferred to a Blue Line train and robbed two other people, prosecutors alleged.
In the first Blue Line attack, Perkins put the victim in a choke hold while Suarez went through the man's pants pockets, according to an arrest report.
Minutes later, Suarez walked up to another man and punched him twice in the face, the report said. According to prosecutors, Perkins and an accomplice, who has not yet been charged, held the man back while Suarez searched the man's pockets and stole his phone.
During this attack, Scaduto said, Suarez and Perkins indicated they were carrying some kind of gun or weapon.
Both victims immediately reported the attacks to CTA personnel, police said, and officers arrested Suarez and Perkins a short while later, about 7:15 a.m., near the LaSalle Blue Line stop Downtown.
Both men were charged with aggravated robbery while indicating a firearm, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and two counts of robbery.
Suarez, of the 5900 block of North Kenmore Avenue, is currently on parole for a DUI conviction. His public defender said Suarez works as a cook on Irving Park Road.
Perkins, of the 2100 block of West Adams Street, is currently on probation for aggravated battery to a police officer. His public defender said Perkins works as a laborer.
Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Monday ordered each man held in lieu of $300,000 bail.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
