UIC Police Arrest Suspects in Area Robberies
The Joint Robbery Task Force of the UIC Police and the Chicago Police Department’s 12th District and Area 4 Detectives has made an arrest leading to charges for a suspect in several robberies, including the April armed robbery of a UIC student in the 1000 block of South Loomis Street.
The June 21 arrest followed an extended investigation of several robberies in the vicinity of campus. Information led investigators to a suspect, already in custody on another case, who was positively identified in a lineup by several victims in different robberies.
Charged as an adult with two counts of armed robbery and one count of aggravated robbery is Nolan Dawson, 17, of West 13th Street, Chicago.
UIC Police also arrested two suspects in a robbery just after midnight last night on South Damen Avenue. Responding to a call from a campus security guard who witnessed a street attack on an elderly man, UIC Police officers located two suspects closely matching the description. The suspects were positively identified by the victim, who is not affiliated with UIC. The victim was treated and released from Stroger Hospital for minor injuries suffered in the attack.
Charged in that crime are two Chicago residents: Eric Thomas, 18, of West 114th Place, with aggravated robbery and theft; and Elon Love, 17, of South Wabash, charged as an adult with aggravated robbery.
The Task Force is continuing its investigation of last night’s crime in hopes of clearing other recent robberies in the area and identifying any accomplices.
“The close partnership of UIC Police with the Chicago Police is an important safeguard of our campus community,” says UIC Police Chief John W. Richardson, a former deputy superintendent of CPD. “But the cooperation of the public, looking out for their own safety and that of others, is equally important.”
The UIC Police Department is a force of sworn peace officers accorded by Illinois statute with all the powers possessed by police in cities and by sheriffs, including the power to make arrests on view and on warrants of violations of state statutes and city or county ordinances. The department has a long tradition of community-based policing in partnership with the on- and off-campus community.
