Police say a Near West Side man robbed a 17-year-old volunteer as he made his way to work at a polling place in north suburban Evanston on Election Day.
Lamar D. Berger, 19, has been charged with felony counts of robbery and unlawful restraint, Evanston police announced Tuesday night.
About 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 8, the Chicago teen was walking from the Howard Street CTA Red Line station to the polling place at the Levy Senior Center at 300 Dodge Ave. in Evanston, when Berger pulled up on a Divvy bicycle and forced him into an alley near the intersection of Oakton Street and Darrow Avenue, according to police.
Berger then forced the boy to hand over his bank cards along with a laptop and cellphone, for which he made the boy change the pass codes before taking off on the bike, police said.
The 17-year-old called for help from the polling place. Officers in the 300 block of Asbury Avenue spotted Berger, who abandoned the bike and was able to escape, police said.
Divvy representatives were able to help detectives track the bike back to Berger, who was arrested on unrelated drug possession charges Dec. 21, about two blocks from his Chicago home in the 100 block of North Hermitage, according to police and CPD arrest records.
He remained jailed on a $100,000 bond Tuesday night, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. Berger is due in court again Jan. 18.
