Cesar Vazquez, the man convicted in March of robbing the manager of Grumpy’s Café in Riverside last year, was sentenced on April 29 to three years in prison for that crime.
In addition, Vazquez waived his right to a trial and pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery in connection with a Jan. 29, 2009 incident in Berwyn outside a Cermak Road video rental store.
At the hearing at the Maybrook courthouse, Judge Thomas Tucker also sentenced Vazquez, 22, to three years in prison for that robbery. Vazquez will serve the sentences consecutively, said Tucker, meaning he’ll serve out his time for the Berwyn robbery after completing his sentence for the Riverside case.
Once he completes his stretch in prison, Vazquez, a Berwyn resident, will serve two years of court-ordered supervision.
Asked by Tucker if he had anything to say, Vazquez declined to speak in court. His attorney made a motion to reconsider Vazquez’s conviction, but Tucker denied the motion.
Vazquez robbed the manager of Grumpy’s, 35 E. Burlington St., at 5:30 a.m. on March 31, 2009. He was initially charged with armed robbery, but the charge was reduced at Vazquez’s bench trial in March of this year.
At the trial, Vazquez’s attorney attempted to prove that Vazquez was in Joliet at the time of the robbery and that he was a victim of mistaken identity. However, Tucker didn’t buy the alibi.
At the time he was arrested on April 10, 2009, for the Riverside robbery, he was out on bond in connection with the Berwyn case. Vazquez and others had been accused of robbing two men outside Hollywood Video, 6341 W. Cermak Road in Berwyn.
