A North Chicago man alleged to have stolen $1 from a grocery store, while a fugitive from custody for robbing a Waukegan bank out of $87,000, has been ordered detained until trial following a Lake County Court hearing.
William Rozelle, 33, of North Chicago, is officially charged with a class one felony count of aggravated robbery for allegedly passing a note to a store clerk at a North Chicago grocery store that read he had a gun and wanted to steal money from a cash register, authorities said.
He fled the store after getting only $1 from the clerk after the note was passed, said Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Colleen McConnell during Rozelle’s June 11 detention hearing in front of Lake County Associate Judge Theodore Potkonjak.
McConnell said Rozelle was on supervised release from federal prison when he decided to leave the halfway house he was required to stay in without proper notification on June 7.
Rozelle was on supervised release for three years after finishing up an 11-year federal prison sentence for robbing the Waukegan bank out of $87,000, McConnell said.
McConnell said in the bank robbery case, Roselle threatened a bank teller with a knife. However, she did not say the bank robbery date or the bank’s name where the robbery occurred.
After leaving without authorization from the halfway house, the U. S. Marshall’s Office issued a warrant for Rozelle’s arrest, McConnell said.
Two days later, Rozelle walked into a grocery store in the 800 block of 10th Street in North Chicago and handed the store clerk a note that said he was armed with a gun, not to scream, and to give him money.
The grocery clerk put her hands up, McConnell said, handed the note back to Rozelle, then took $1 from her wallet and handed it over.
Rozelle took the money and the note and left the store, McConnell said.
After Rozelle left, the cashier told her boss she had been robbed, and the police were called. Officers arriving on the scene viewed store surveillance that confirmed the robber’s identity was Rozelle, McConnell said.
North Chicago Police surveying the area located Rozelle nearby, McConnell said.
When police questioned him, McConnell said Rozelle still had the note and the one $1 bill in his possession.
“He’s shown over and over over and over and over an unwillingness to abide by court orders and continues to commit crimes with threats of violence,” McConnell said in court.
Potkonjak detained Rozelle because of the robbery and for the outstanding U.S. Marshall’s warrant from the previous bank robbery conviction.
Rozelle is due back in court on July 10.