A Venezuelan migrant was sentenced to four years in jail after mugging an 80-year-old Bridgeport woman last summer, being released by a judge, and then burglarizing a Chicago Lawn home four days later.
Elio Redondo-Regas, 49, pleaded guilty to the robbery of a person over the age of 60 and residential burglary, according to court records. Judge Peggy Chiampas sentenced him to two concurrent four-year terms.
Redondo-Regas was first arrested on August 2, 2024, for mugging an 80-year-old woman in the 3000 block of South Wentworth. According to a Chicago police report, he approached her on a bicycle, grabbed her bag, and seized her hat before pedaling away.
Two suburban men who witnessed the attack chased him down and detained him until police came.
Despite the brazen act, prosecutors did not request that a judge detain him, and he was released.
Only four days later, Redondo-Regas attacked again. A 40-year-old man awoke at 2:30 a.m. on August 6 to the sound of someone entering his family’s home in the 6900 block of South Campbell. The family noticed Redondo-Regas rummaging through boxes in their basement and looting the refrigerator, according to a CPD complaint.
He escaped, but a quick-thinking neighbor tackled him in the backyard and detained him until police came.
This time, prosecutors requested that he be detained, citing his recent entry into the United States and his developing criminal pattern. The judge agreed, and Redondo-Regas remained in custody until his sentence last week.
With customary good-behavior credit and 370 days served in Cook County Jail, his real prison sentence will be drastically reduced.