CHICAGO – A secret GPS tracker allowed a Chicago police helicopter to locate and track a car full of armed robbers more than 25 miles across the city, leading to one arrest, according to prosecutors.
The robbery happened last Tuesday evening at GameStop, 1751 West Howard. Four men entered, pepper-sprayed a 25-year-old female employee and took the keys to access two cash drawers, according to a CPD report.
Police said the crew escaped in a red SUV with $1,125, a $25 gamer headset and that pesky GPS tracker. One of the CPD helicopters located the SUV and tracked it all the way to the 13000 block of South Ellis, where it parked, and the four men encountered a nearby home. The helicopter crew gave the ground units the exact address.
Officers went to the home and saw someone running out the back. That person escaped. Meanwhile, a woman allowed officers into the home, where they ordered 18-year-old Dequan O’Neil to leave the bathroom, the CPD report said. He complied.
After the GPS tracking company triggered an alarm on the device, officers found it hidden among a pile of cash in a box of “miscellaneous items” in the bathroom where O’Neil had been, the report said.
Two GameStop employees identified O’Neil as one of the robbers, prosecutors said in an arrest request. Judge Susana Ortiz granted the state’s request, noting that O’Neil had completed juvenile probation less than a year ago for an aggravated robbery while armed with a knife.
