A man who was abducted at gunpoint after leaving a Gold Coast bar last month managed to make a crucial discovery during his ordeal. Prosecutors revealed that he found a cellphone belonging to an earlier robbery victim inside the kidnappers’ SUV and discreetly hid it, planning to use it to call for help later. Now, two men have been charged in connection with this incident and may face further charges related to a series of similar robberies.
Kareem Burnett, 50, and Lamont Gary, 51, face charges of armed robbery and armed kidnapping linked to the March 14 abduction and robbery. Judge Antara Rivera has ordered both men to remain detained until their trial.
According to prosecutors, the 27-year-old victim was walking home from The Hangge-Uppe on West Elm Street, just before 4 a.m., when a white SUV pulled up beside him. The passenger beckoned him over and revealed a handgun tucked into his waistband, demanding the victim enter the vehicle. The victim complied with the order.
Inside the vehicle, the two men demanded the victim’s wallet, personal cellphone, and work phone, and instructed him to provide passwords for his phones and banking accounts, according to a detention filing.
The kidnappers then drove the victim to several ATMs to withdraw money. At one spot, they ordered him to empty his account, but the transaction was declined. They continued to another bank drive-through, forcing him to attempt further withdrawals, which also failed.
As the men grew increasingly frustrated while driving to a third location, the victim noticed an iPhone beneath the front passenger seat. Prosecutors say he quietly took the phone and hid it on his person.
The men eventually stopped at a 7-Eleven in River North, instructing the victim to go inside and withdraw cash from an ATM while they circled the block. However, employees did not allow him entry. When he no longer saw the SUV nearby, he used the discovered phone to call 911, leading Chicago police to the scene.
The following day, the victim realized that someone had withdrawn $324 from an ATM just minutes after he was left at the store, prosecutors said.
During their investigation, detectives discovered that one of the banks where the victim’s withdrawal attempt failed was the Wintrust branch at 100 West North Avenue, a site associated with similar incidents, according to court documents. Surveillance footage reportedly showed a Lincoln MKT, registered to Gary, entering the lot at the same time the victim was there.
With a search warrant, detectives began tracking Gary’s vehicle, noting that it frequently traveled through the area of the robbery during early morning hours, as per the detention filing.
At 4:23 a.m. on March 21, a week after the robbery, Chicago police stopped the Lincoln for a traffic violation in the South Loop, with Gary driving and Burnett in the front passenger seat. The encounter was recorded on body-worn camera video.
Using this information, investigators arranged separate photo lineups, and the victim identified Gary as the driver and Burnett as the armed passenger, according to prosecutors.
Detectives also examined the iPhone found by the victim and identified it as belonging to a man who had been robbed on February 28 after two men approached him outside The Hangge-Uppe, prosecutors stated.
Authorities are also looking into another robbery reported on March 7 at 1:15 a.m. near Division and Wells streets, allegedly involving the same Lincoln and two suspects. No charges have been filed in the February 28 or March 7 cases.
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