A 33-year-old Dolton man, who police have suspected has committed multiple Walgreens robberies in Illinois, faces armed robbery charges after allegedly stealing money and cigarettes from a Walgreens in Hammond.
Marvis Boyd Jr. has been charged with armed robbery after an incident at the Walgreens, 6510 Columbia Avenue, in Hammond, at 5 a.m. Dec. 8, according to court records.
As Hammond police investigated the case, a Walgreens loss prevention employee contacted the department to share that Boyd was believed to have committed robberies in Walgreens’ stores in Chicago. Further investigation found that Boyd was the suspect of Walgreens robberies in Hickory Hills, Orland Park, Thornton and Homewood, according to court records.
In the Hammond case, a store employee told police that Boyd, wearing a ski mask and holding a knife, walked behind the counter, opened the register and took $100. The employee also saw Boyd take 14 packs of Newport 100 cigarettes, according to court records.
The employee said Boyd pointed the knife, a thin blade with a brown handle, in the employee’s direction, according to court records.
Surveillance footage captured Boyd walking from the Walgreens to the nearby Aldi parking lot where he got into a Ford Bronco, with an Illinois license plate, and drove off, according to court records.
Boyd dropped a cigarette package as he left the store, and police were able to pull fingerprints from the package and confirmed the prints were Boyd’s, according to court records.
When police reviewed footage from the Hammond Walgreens from Oct. 27 at 1:30 a.m., they discovered that Boyd was a suspect in a robbery reported from that day as well.
The store manager told police that Boyd walked around the store for about an hour putting items into a shopping cart. At one point, the manager talked to Boyd to help him find a product, according to court records.
Boyd left the store with the shopping cart full of items without paying and started loading them into a SUV, according to court records.
The manager went outside after Boyd and told him she would note his license plate number. Boyd then grabbed her and said, “Get back in the store or I’ll kill you,” according to court records.
At that moment, a police car drove by and the manager was able to flag the officer down, which is when Boyd ran away from the scene, according to court records.
Hammond police stated that video surveillance from Dec. 8 and Oct. 27 confirms Boyd was involved in both incidents.
Boyd’s bail has been set at $50,000, according to court records.
akukulka@post-trib.com
