Teen Staged Burglary To Steal Mom’s Gun So Pal Could Stick Up Pizza Man: Cops

JOLIET, IL — A 14-year-old staged a burglary so he could steal his mom’s gun and give it to a pal who used it to stick up a pizza man, police said.

The 21-year-old pizza man was robbed at gunpoint while he was trying to make a delivery to a vacant house on Osgood Street Monday night, police said.

After no one answered the door, the pizza man headed back to his car but was waylaid by a gun-toting 15-year-old, police said.

The pizza man reportedly tossed what little money he had onto the ground, the teen snatched it up and cut through backyards to make his getaway.

Police searched for the bandit with tracking dogs but he eluded capture.

Police then linked the gun to a report of a burglary on East Washington Street. The gun, which had been kept in a safe, was the only thing stolen from the house, police said, with the supposed prowler passing on taking jewelry and electronics that were sitting out in the open.

Police suspect the 14-year-old son of the woman who owns the gun staged the burglary and then passed the weapon off to the 15-year-old who held up the pizza man.

After the robbery, the 15-year-old’s 17-year-old brother took the gun away from him for “safekeeping,” police said, but then an 18-year-old friend absconded with it.

The 18-year-old was seen flashing the gun around Tuesday night, police said, and officers are currently looking for him.

The 15-year-old was charged with aggravated robbery and taken to River Valley Juvenile Detention Center. The 14-year-old was released to the custody of his mother while he remains under investigation.