One charged, 2 on lam in kidnapping of Wheaton College student
One man is being held on $3 million bail and police are searching for two others in the Aug. 26 kidnapping and armed robbery of a 21-year-old Wheaton College student that began outside a Glen Ellyn coffee shop.
Abeet Ramos, 18, of South Elgin was in DuPage County bond court late Friday after being charged with armed robbery, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated unlawful restraint. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 21 to 90 years in prison.
Police identified the other two suspects as Jeremy Jones, 23, whose last known address was in Chicago, and a 17-year-old boy from Elgin. If captured, both would face the same charges.
Authorities said the victim had just left the coffee shop around 9:50 a.m. Aug. 26 when he was charged by two men. One of them, now identified as Jones, grabbed him by the shirt, threatened to shoot him and forced him into the back seat of a small SUV that Ramos was driving, authorities said.
The suspects took the victim's Colorado Rockies baseball hat, his wallet and his iPhone, forcing him to remove the pass code and tracking device, authorities said. They then drove him to a bank along Roosevelt Road and forced him to withdraw $1,100 from an ATM, authorities said.
The trio then drove the victim to Chicago, where they made more ATM stops, forcing him to withdraw $200 at one and $300 at the other, authorities said.
The suspects kept him in custody, forcing him at gunpoint down on the floor in the back of the SUV, until around 11:30 a.m. when they let him loose in Chicago, gave him his iPhone and $20, and drove away, authorities said. He immediately ran inside a building and called police.
Police said they identified the vehicle using video footage and were able to read the license plate.
Ramos, taken into custody Thursday, is next due in court Sept. 13 before Judge John Kinsella. He would need to post $300,000 to be released from jail.
Wheaton College officials issued a statement Friday saying they've been told the student was the "victim of a random attack" and "police do not believe there is an ongoing threat to the campus community. "
They said the college's department of public safety worked closely with Glen Ellyn police, who asked the college not to inform students until an arrest was made.
The college said the victim was not physically harmed but it is committed to his "ongoing support needs."
Glen Ellyn Police Chief Philip Norton said police did not make information about the case public until Friday afternoon because "we made the determination based on the information we had from our victim that the public was not in danger of this occurring again. We knew they weren't targeting Glen Ellyn. We believe they did not think they were in Glen Ellyn, they thought they were somewhere else."
DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said the allegations against Ramos and his accomplices "are completely outrageous. The brazen abduction of an innocent man at gunpoint in broad daylight will not be tolerated and will be met with the full force of the law."
Police are asking for the public's help to locate the other two suspects and are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to their arrest through the Crime Stoppers program. Callers to (630) 469-1187 may remain anonymous.