Prosecutors say a 20-year-old man was caught with a loaded gun in Fox Lake and also robbed a convenience store in Round Lake Beach at gunpoint earlier this summer.
Donald Shifflett, 20, of Round Lake Beach, was charged with armed robbery with a firearm, four counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, robbery, burglary and theft.
Officers with the Fox Lake Police Department around 12:11 a.m. on October 9 witnessed a car roll through a stop sign.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Nicholas Shepherd said the driver saw the officer and stopped for a long time before continuing to commit another traffic infraction.
Officers saw the occupants of the car, which had pulled into a driveway on a dead-end street, moving around when they approached during the traffic stop, Shepherd said.
None of the occupants lived on the dead-end street. Fresh cannabis was smelled from the car.
The occupants were ordered out of the car and a backpack was found behind the driver seat that contained a semi-automatic pistol with a loaded magazine inserted, Shepherd said.
Shepherd said Shifflett was in the front passenger seat within reach of the backpack, which contained items with his name on it.
Shifflett admitted the gun was his and that it was stolen, Shepherd said. He does not have a concealed carry license or Firearm Owner’s Identification card and is under the age of 21.
Officers suspected the gun was used in an armed robbery that occurred in the late afternoon on June 11 at the Express Food and Liquor, 1306 North Cedar Lake Road in Round Lake Beach.
During that incident, officers responded to the store and spoke with the cashier and several witnesses, Shepherd said.
The cashier said he had been working when the offender, described as a young white male wearing a hoodie and face mask, walked into the store and walked down an aisle.
Shepherd said the offender then walked up to the cashier and pulled out a black handgun and pointed it at the cashier while demanding money from the register.
A patron witnessed the robbery and said she fled to the bathroom where she called 911, Shepherd said.
The offender jumped over the counter and took the money before fleeing the store.
A Lake County sheriff’s canine responded and followed the scent trail of the suspect.
Shepherd said the trail ended in the 1400 block of Pleasant Drive, which is where Shifflett resided in an apartment.
Clothing was recovered and video surveillance was reviewed which led investigators to suspect Shifflett to be the offender, Shepherd said.
Cell phone data pinpointed Shifflett to the scene at the time of the robbery and to the route that the offender was believed to have fled, Shepherd said.
Two Lake County judges granted separate petitions to detain Shifflett pending trial in both of his cases — the gun arrest in Fox Lake and the armed robbery in Round Lake Beach — following detention hearings this month.
Shifflett is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.