Just over a week ago, Berwyn resident Joseph Montoro walked out the front door of the downstate Vienna Correctional Facility on parole for a 2006 burglary conviction.
On Feb. 26 Montoro, 22, was back in custody, along with two other men, for allegedly robbing a North Riverside Dunkin Donuts store.
According to North Riverside police, Montoro and Berwyn resident Vince Castrejon, 23, walked into the Dunkin Donuts at 8330 Cermak Road around 9:45 p.m., and held up two employees at gunpoint. Police Chief Anthony Garvey said at least one handgun was used in the holdup, which was caught on the store’s video camera.
An employee at a nearby business called North Riverside police to report that two armed men wearing masks were robbing the store. When police arrived, Montoro and Castrejon were reportedly still inside the store, and a responding officer reported seeing at least one of the suspects holding a handgun.
Moments later the two men left the store, reportedly with an undetermined amount of money taken from a cash register and possibly from a cash box in a back room. The two men got into a van and attempted to flee the scene, but the vehicle was disabled by a North Riverside squad car, which rammed the van inside the parking lot.
The van, police said, was reported stolen out of Cicero that same day.
Two men, later identified as Montoro and Castrejon, jumped out of the van and ran across Cermak Road into the Riverside Golf Club property. An officer gave chase while police units responding from 10 other suburban and county agencies set up a perimeter around the golf club. Almost immediately after establishing the perimeter, police caught the two men, Garvey said.
“It was a moonlit night, and they were wearing black clothing against the white snow,” Garvey said. “Within five minutes they were in custody.”
Meanwhile, Berwyn police responding to the scene stopped a vehicle with a third suspect, identified as a 18-year-old Michael Kelly, of Bridgeview. According to the police report, Kelly was the lookout during the robbery and was attempting to find and pick up Montoro and Castrejon as they were running from police.
Garvey said that North Riverside police had arrested Kelly on Feb. 1 for retail theft. That case is still pending.
A Cook County Sheriff K-9 unit located gloves, masks and money from the robbery on the golf course grounds. Police did not recover a weapon.
Garvey confirmed that there was at least one shot fired during the pursuit but that it was an “accidental discharge” by a North Riverside officer. The officer, who had the gun down by his side during the pursuit, slipped on some ice and accidentally fired the weapon into the ground, according to Garvey.
“We’ll handle that as an internal matter,” Garvey said.
All three men were charged with two counts of armed robbery. Montoro and Castrejon were also charged with one count of possession of a stolen motor vehicle. At a bond hearing Thursday, the bond for all three men was set at $100,000. A no bond parole warrant was also issued against Montoro.
On Jan. 24, 2006, Montoro was sentenced to three years in prison for burglary. He was sent to the Vienna Correctional Facility near Carbondale in December of 2006 and was paroled Feb. 20.
Garvey said that several other suburban police agencies, including Berwyn, Lyons, Oak Park and Elmhurst, believe the men may be involved in a number of other armed robberies and that further charges may be added.
“It sounds like these guys have been pretty active,” Garvey said.