DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. — A man who robbed a convenience store and a gas station at gunpoint on the same day in 2021 was handed a 38-year prison sentence this week.
According to DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, 31-year-old Robert Howard, a former Chicago resident who was out on parole for two armed robberies out of Cook County, was handed the nearly four-decade sentence on Thursday after entering a blind plea of guilty to two counts of armed robbery with a firearm in late July.
Prosecutors said the charges stemmed from two armed robberies that unfolded less than an hour apart on the same day.
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It all started after Downers Grove police were called to the scene of an armed robbery at a Speedway gas station in the 5004 block of Fairview Avenue in Downers Grove, just after 2:40 p.m. on June 15, 2021.
Following an investigation, authorities said Howard had entered the store and removed an item from the cooler before walking to the counter where the register was located. He then revealed to the clerk that he was armed with a gun and walked behind the counter and demanded she open one of the cash registers.