'Abject Terror': 30 Years For Men in Abductions, Armed Robberies In Frankfort, New Lenox

JOLIET, IL — A Park Forest man and a Chicago man were sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for their roles in two armed robberies that entailed holding victims captive while they went on a crime spree.

Justin Brown, 24, of Park Forest, and Terwon Matthews, 25, of Chicago, both previously pleaded guilty to the crimes, committed a little more than a week apart in November 2019.

On Nov. 16, 2019, Brown and Matthews, along with two other individuals, confronted a woman who was attempting to withdraw money at about 5:45 a.m. from a Chase Bank ATM on LaGrange Road in Frankfort. After blocking the victim’s car by cutting in front of her, the two, who appeared to have a gun, first took the victim’s phone and credit card, then withdrew money from the ATM.

Two of the perpetrators entered the woman's car and, for a more than three-hour period, engaged in an armed robbery spree during which they purchased items at various stores in the south suburbs by taking cash withdrawals from the victim’s accounts while she remained in the car. The men then drove the woman into Chicago, where they abandoned the victim and her car, fleeing in a separate vehicle occupied by other offenders. A total of $8,900 was taken from the woman's accounts.

"The abject terror she endured cannot be described," Will County State’s Attorney Glasgow said Monday. "One can hardly imagine the depths of despair that she reached during this excruciating ordeal, not knowing if she was going to live or die."

Thirteen days later, on Nov. 29, 2019, Brown and Matthews and other offenders accosted a male victim in New Lenox at about 6 a.m., as he was walking to his car parked in his driveway, Glasgow said.

The defendants, while masked and believed to be carrying a gun, confronted the victim in his driveway and demanded his debit card. They then placed him in the car they arrived in and for the next four hours kept him covered with a jacket while they engaged in an armed robbery spree, Glasgow said, making purchases in the south suburbs and northwest Indiana area and taking cash advances. After the victim’s bank closed the account, the defendants dropped the victim off along the expressway in Hammond, Indiana.

"To be a victim of an armed robbery and then taken in a car by the thugs who robbed you, driven around for hours, and left on the side of a road in a different town is a life-altering experience that this victim must now live with every day," Glasgow said. "This callous and morally bankrupt behavior is demonstrative of an abandoned and malignant soul. They are bereft of basic humanity."

Brown and Matthews each will receive 1,333 days credit for time served, the state's attorney's office said. They also will serve 18 months mandatory supervised release after completion of their sentences.