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Dixon police arrested five people, including two Mt. Morris residents, on Dec. 30 after a man was robbed at knifepoint in Dixon in his car the night before.
According to Police Chief Danny Langloss, a Dixon man in his early 20s agreed Dec. 29 to drive his friend, Jordan A. Brake, 19, Mt. Morris, to pick up one of her friends, William J. Bankhead, 21, Mt. Morris, in Oregon, and then drive the two back to what the driver thought was Brake’s apartment in Dixon.
When the three drove up to the address in the 700 block of West Second Street that Brake had given him, at least three men wearing masks approached the car.
The driver was pulled from his seat at knifepoint, and his money was taken.
Brake and Bankhead also were threatened before the three masked men fled, as did Bankhead. Brake stayed behind.
Police say that Brake had helped to orchestrate the robbery, and that she and Bankhead were threatened as part of the ruse.
The three masked men, police said, were Shawn P. Beets, 26, Brian S. Galor, 23, and Galor’s roommate, Devin T. Williams, 22, all of Dixon. Police say Beets had the knife.
No one was injured.
All of the men are charged with armed robbery and vehicular invasion.
Armed robbery is a Class X felony, which could carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
Vehicular invasion is a Class 1 felony, which could mean 15 years in prison.
Beets, Galor, and Williams were being held Dec. 30 on $100,000 bonds.
Brake, 19, is being charged only with vehicular invasion. She and Bankhead were being held on $5,000 bonds.
Beets previously pleaded guilty to two different burglaries in Lee County. He was given probation for both.
Galor and Williams were part of a group of six men convicted of a string of school burglaries in several area counties in 2010.
Galor, who lived in Mt. Morris then, was found guilty of school burglaries in Ogle and Carroll Counties. He was sentenced to four years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Williams, then from Rockford, was found guilty of school burglaries in Carroll and Winnebago Counties. He was also sentenced to four years in the IDOC and was paroled Dec. 20.