An 18-year-old Lyons resident suspected of robbing a gas station at gunpoint on June 22 has been arrested and is in custody awaiting trial, North Riverside police have reported.
Dereak D. Mejias, also known as Darius Ricky, was arrested without incident on June 24 at about 1:45 p.m. while sitting on the bleachers with two acquaintances at a baseball field at Ehlert Park in Brookfield.
Police reported recovering a weapon they suspect was used in the robbery of the BP Amoco gas station at 2558 Desplaines Ave. at about 10 p.m. on June 22. The black pistol was a BB-gun replica of a .45-caliber handgun, police said.
Mejias, wearing a dust mask on his face, allegedly reportedly walked into the gas station minimart, racked the weapon and told the clerk to “Give me the money. Give me the money right now.”
The clerk placed about $300 from the register into a plastic grocery bag that Mejias reportedly had handed him. Mejias allegedly took the cash and ran out of the store. Police located a subject in an alley across the street from the gas station, but the suspect ran back across the street and into the Riverside Golf Club.
Despite setting up a perimeter and calling in a K-9 unit from Forest Park, police were unable to locate the suspect. A Riverside police officer did detain a man who reportedly fit the description of the suspect near Cermak Road and Desplaines Avenue, but the victim stated it was not the suspect.
On June 23, however, police received a tip from a witness which led police to contact an 18-year-old North Riverside man who reportedly had knowledge of the robbery. Mejias, in the company of a 22-year-old Brookfield man and an 18-year-old Lyons woman, reportedly had checked into the Rodeway Inn at 8640 Ogden Ave. in Lyons on the night of the robbery.
Police arrived at the motel on June 24 just after noon and learned the three had checked out an hour earlier. About an hour later police located the three about a mile away from the motel in Ehlert Park. They reportedly told police they were homeless.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office charged Mejias with one count of armed robbery, a Class X felony carrying a prison term of up to 30 years, if convicted, and one count of aggravated robbery. The other two subjects were not charged.
Mejias remains in Cook County Jail with his bond set at $35,000. His next court date is July 20 at the Maybrook courthouse.
