Man charged in connection with 2019 Riverside gas station burglary

RIVERSIDE - A Chicago man was charged Wednesday in connection with a 2019 gas station burglary in Riverside.

Demuiro Williams, 28, of the 1000 block of East 93rd Street, was charged with felony burglary in connection with a 2019 ATM burglary at a Riverside gas station. Bond was set at $50,000.

Williams was taken into custody by Chicago Police on a Riverside warrant in the 500 block of North Laramie Avenue in Chicago during a traffic stop.

Riverside Police are working on linking Williams to two other ATM burglaries at the same location.

The arrest comes 16 months after the Citgo gas station at 539 Longcommon Road was burglarized for the third time within weeks. The November 2019 burglary was part of a series of ATM burglaries that had been occurring in late 2019 in Chicago and the west suburban area, including Riverside, according to a Riverside police news release.

The suspects broke into the building and attempted to take the ATM that was bolted to the floor just inside the door. They were successful in this case and fled. However, Riverside police recovered blood evidence from inside the ATM, which was sent to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab for comparison.

An investigation was launched in the days following the burglary; however, detectives were unable to identify a suspect based on the facts available to them at the time. The evidence technician with the Riverside Police Department was able to recover DNA evidence from inside the ATM that was damaged during the burglary.

In March 2020, Riverside police were notified that the Illinois State Police found a match in their DNA Database between Williams and the 2019 Riverside case. Investigators reviewed the evidence from the investigation and were able to further connect him to the crime.

Chief Tom Weitzel stated, “The use of technology combined with effective investigative tools and evidence collection helped to identify Mr. Williams as the suspect in this burglary. The Illinois State Police Crime Lab and the U.S. Justice Department DNA Database were instrumental in bringing closure to this case.”

Mr. Williams has an extensive criminal history including, drugs, traffic offenses, theft, weapons offenses, manufacturing and delivery of drugs, trespass to property and stolen vehicle charges. He is also a self-admitted and documented street gang member.

Riverside Police Department detectives worked for almost a year after receiving the DNA hit to collect further evidence, conduct additional witness interviews, and attempted to locate the offender.

“Mr. Williams is one of two offenders who burglarized the Citgo in the early morning hours on Thursday, November 29th, 2019,” Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said in the release. “We will continue to work the case and attempt to identify the second offender and charge him/or her as well. We will also be contacting several other jurisdictions including Chicago Police and sharing this arrest information as it is likely that he is involved in numerous other ATM burglaries throughout Cook County.”