COOK COUNTY, IL – Three people have been charged after Cook County Sheriff’s Police recovered a stolen vehicle and a loaded firearm, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
At approximately 11 p.m. on Feb. 21, Sheriff’s Police Investigators working as part of the Chicago Police Vehicular Hijacking Taskforce learned that a 2022 Gray Chevrolet Malibu fled from a traffic stop at 79th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway. A Department of Homeland Security helicopter working as part of the taskforce spotted the speeding vehicle and provided its locations. Investigators followed the location information from the helicopter and found the Malibu abandoned near Lakeshore Drive and Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago.
As investigators pulled up to the abandoned vehicle, they saw the driver of the Malibu get into a 2018 Blue Alfa Romeo Stelvio, which then went over a median and sped away southbound on Lakeshore Drive. Investigators notified the helicopter of the fleeing vehicle. The helicopter began tracking its location, noting the SUV was speeding and disregarding multiple traffic signals.
Investigators followed the locations called out by the helicopter until the vehicle ended up in a parking garage in the 20 block of Ashland Avenue in Chicago. Investigators found the vehicle in a parking spot and took three people who fled from the vehicle into custody.
While taking one of the individuals into custody, identified as 19-year-old Imarion Dobbs, investigators recovered a loaded Glock handgun from Dobb’s waistband. The Glock was modified with a switch that made the firearm fully automatic.
A second loaded firearm with an extended magazine was located by responding Chicago Police personnel under a vehicle near where the offenders were taken into custody.
Sheriff’s Police Investigators also recovered suspected cannabis and scales from the Stelvio, which investigators later learned had been reported stolen from Chicago.
Dobbs of the 6300 block of South Artesian Avenue in Chicago, did not have a valid Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card or a Concealed Carry License (CCL). He was charged with aggravated
unlawful use of a weapon, a class 4 felony, and criminal trespass to a vehicle, a misdemeanor. His bond was set at $25,000-D during a hearing today at the George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building.
Lajon Hayes, 23, of the 3400 block of Martin Luther King Drive in Chicago, and Leterrance Mitchell, 19, of the 2300 block of East 70th Place in Chicago, were each charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass to a vehicle.
This remains an ongoing investigation.
The public is reminded that the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty by the government in a court of law.
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