Woman sentenced to 18 years in deadly 2019 Joliet robbery

A Seneca woman was sentenced to 18 years in prison for her role in a 2019 armed robbery and slaying of a 36-year-old man outside a Denny’s restaurant in Joliet.

Bobbie Ollom, 27, must serve 85% of her 18-year prison sentence after she pleaded guilty Friday to an amended armed robbery charge.

According to the charge, Ollom was armed with a bludgeon when she took money from Gregory Brown, 36, during the April 30, 2019, incident outside Denny’s at 2531 Plainfield Road, Joliet.

The first-degree murder charge against Ollom was not dropped as part of the plea agreement. That charge will remain outstanding until the disposition of the cases against Ollom’s two other alleged co-conspirators, Joshua Anderson, 24, and Christopher Parker, 26.

Prosecutors allege that Anderson, whom Ollom was dating, used her to lure Brown into a vehicle, where he and Parker planned to rob Brown.

Brown was shot in the head, and his body was left in the parking lot outside Denny’s.

Before Ollom was sentenced, Brown’s mother, Gwendolyn Brown, took the witness stand to provide a tearful victim testimony to Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak.

“You stole something from me that you can never give me back,” Gwendolyn Brown told Ollom.

Gwendolyn Brown spoke of how she loved her son. She said she didn’t know if she could forgive Ollom.

“I can’t say anything else because it’s hurting my heart,” she said.

Afterward, Gwendolyn Brown returned to the gallery and hugged another woman as both of them cried.

Ebony Daniels, Gregory Brown’s sister, also gave a statement in which she recalled fond memories of her brother.

She called Ollom a murderer.

“You led my brother to his death,” Daniels said.

Daniels told Bertani-Tomczak that 18 years for Ollom would not be enough.

Daniels read statements from other family members expressing their sadness and anger over Gregory Brown’s death. One family member said the manner in which Brown’s life was taken was senseless, calculating and cold-hearted.

When Ollom decided to deliver her own statement, Gwendolyn Brown had left the courtroom.

Ollom said she wished she would have “handled the situation differently,” and she acknowledged she didn’t do the right thing “in the heat of the moment.”

“I wish I could go back to that day and take it all back,” Ollom said.

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Christine Vukmir said the state’s evidence would show that Ollom, Anderson and Parker each conspired to commit the armed robbery of Brown.

Their plan was to have Ollom meet with Brown for a sex act. After Ollom met with Brown, he entered a vehicle in which Anderson and Parker were hiding in the back seat, Vukmir said.

Ollom had heard a shot and saw Parker with a gun, Vukmir said. Parker went through Brown’s pockets, taking his money, keys and phone, she said. The three then fled the scene, leaving Brown’s body in the parking lot.