Police Looking Into Possible Armed Robbery Connections

With an eye toward any possible connections, police continue to investigate a recent rash of armed robberies in the Tri-Cities.

Police in St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia and North Aurora are comparing findings from their own investigations to see if the hold-ups have any common ties, officials said.

Five armed robberies have been reported since Nov. 23, with the latest occurring Dec. 8 at a video game store on Randall Road in Geneva.

"There's a lot of sharing of information," St. Charles police spokesman Paul McCurtain said Wednesday.

McCurtain declined to comment on the possibility of the robberies being related.

"Some of the robberies are probably related, but I wouldn’t say all of the recent Fox Valley-area robberies are related," said North Aurora Police Lt. Scott Buziecki in an e-mail.

Buziecki said North Aurora detectives continue to be in contact with their counterparts at area agencies so that they can work together.

Connections are being considered as the different departments move forward, said Geneva Police Cmdr. Julie Nash.

"We are looking at the available evidence to determine if they are related," Nash said.

McCurtain encouraged anyone who sees suspicious activity around stores—such as someone hanging around with no obvious purpose—to call police. Nash encouraged the public and store employees to err on the side of caution if trouble arises.

"Should a citizen or merchant encounter an armed robbery, they should not attempt to be a hero," Nash said. "Rather they should be a good witness."

Here's a rundown of the recent robberies:

On Thursday, Dec. 8, a man in a ski mask armed with a gun held up the Game Stop store at 1492 Randall Rd. and took an undisclosed amount of money.

On Monday, Dec. 5, a man with a different description than the Game Stop suspect robbed the First State Bank, 323 W. State St., Geneva.

On Monday, Nov. 28, a North Aurora Subway was robbed at gunpoint, less than a week after a robbery of a Batavia Subway along the same road. In that case, a lone male suspect walked into the store at 53 S. Randall Rd., displayed a black semi-automatic handgun and demanded money. That suspect is described as a white male in his mid to late 20s, around 6 feet tall, with short, light-brown facial hair.

On Friday, Nov. 25, two robbers got away with about $1,300 from the Domino's Pizza on W. Main St. in St. Charles at about 12:37 a.m. One of the robbers displayed a handgun, and the robbers tied the employees' wrists.

On Wednesday, Nov. 23, an armed robber took cash from the register at the Subway on Batavia's southwest side around 8:40 p.m. The restaurant is located at 13 S. Randall Rd. in the same lot as the Batavia Jewel-Osco. In that incident, a white male displayed a handgun, demanded and received cash from the register, police said.