A man wanted for robbing a gas station and stealing a car in Crystal Lake was captured after he ditched the stolen car and ran from police in Harvard Monday morning.
Joseph Hunter, 33, of the 200 block of Prairie Ridge Drive in Woodstock, was charged with aggravated robbery, theft, two counts of possession of a stolen vehicle and resisting a peace officer.
The Crystal Lake Police Department responded around 12:40 a.m. Monday to the Circle K gas station, 220 Virginia Street, for a report of an armed robbery.
Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Thomas Kotlowski said that officers learned a man entered the store and implied he was armed with a handgun. The man demanded cash from the employee and then fled the store with the cash.
The suspect was last seen heading eastbound on foot from the scene, Kotlowski said. No injuries were reported.
The Harvard Police Department located a stolen vehicle in the alley behind the 60 block of North Ayer Street around 10:54 a.m. Monday, according to Harvard Police Chief Mark Krause.
Officers attempted to make contact with a man, later identified as Hunter, who was walking away from the vehicle. Hunter ran from officers but was taken into custody a short time later.
Kotlowski said that the vehicle matched the description of a car that was reported stolen out of Crystal Lake around 6:05 a.m. Monday. Crystal Lake police detectives responded to Harvard and gathered evidence relating to the robbery.
Hunter remains held in the McHenry County Jail and is scheduled to appear in bond court.