3 charged in robbery of man in University Heights Apartments parking lot

Three DeKalb men were charged Tuesday after police said they beat and robbed a man in the parking lot of University Heights Apartments, sending him to the hospital with visible facial fractures.

Jelanni R. Singleton, 25, Anthony D. Cook, 27, and Ernest Faulkner, 22, each are charged with robbery, aggravated battery and mob action, DeKalb County court records show.

The most serious of the charges is robbery, a Class 2 felony, which can carry a prison sentence of three to seven years. The charges also are probational.

None of the men had attorneys listed in court records as of Friday.

DeKalb police officers responded May 5 to a report of fighting at the apartment complex, 1110 Varsity Blvd., where they met with a man who told officers he was beaten and robbed by three men, according to a synopsis filed in court. The man said his injuries required him to be taken to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital for treatment.

The man later told a detective he was approached by the men on the west side of the complex in the parking lot entrance, according to the synopsis. One of the men told him to give them everything on him, and when he refused, two of the men hit him in the face with closed fists and kicked him in the torso when he fell to the ground.

The man fell unconscious, he told the detective, and when he woke up, he found that his red jacket, the keycard for his apartment, his red Huntington Bank card and his Illinois state ID were gone.

Police used a provided physical description and simultaneous photo lineup to identify Faulkner as a suspect, according to the synopsis. Multiple camera videos then were used to find Faulkner meeting with two men outside of Thirsty Liquors at 1039 W. Hillcrest Drive before walking to DeKalb Food Mart and then the approximate area where the robbery occurred.

DeKalb officers identified one of other men as Cook through previous police interactions, according to the synopsis.

In an interview with a DeKalb detective, Faulkner said the battered man had approached him, claimed to have a weapon and told him to give him everything he had. Faulkner said he gave the man $70.

Faulkner said he then approached the man, this time with two others, according to the synopsis. Faulkner said Cook fought the man alone.

Cook told the detective that Faulkner had called him, saying that he had been robbed of marijuana, and he, Faulkner and Singleton approached the man, who was with another person, and told him to return the marijuana, according to the synopsis. The man refused, Cook told the detective, and Singleton hit him in the face before Singleton and Cook battered him further. Cook said Faulkner hit the man once when he was on the ground.

Singleton told the detective that he pushed the man first, starting the fight, and during the fight, he pulled a plastic bag containing marijuana from the man’s waistband. The three then left the area, according to the synopsis.