Getaway Driver in Jewelry Store Robbery Pleads Guilty

One of the getaway drivers in the 2011 robbery of an Orland Park jewelry store was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Wednesday, police said.

Lance Vaughn, 32, of the of the 3400 block of Congress Parkway in Chicago, pleaded guilty to one charge of armed robbery and was sentenced on Wednesday in Judge Colleen Hyland's Bridgeview courtroom.

Vaughn will get 533 days credit for time already served in jail and, after he is released, will be required to spend three years under mandatory supervision, according to Cook County court records. He also has to pay $399 in court fees.

Vaughn , police said.

Charles Harper, 37, of the 2900 block of West 183rd Street in Lansing, and Antoine C. Kelly, 31, of the 800 block of White Oak Lane in University Park, posed as customers before pulling out a handgun and tying up employees with duct tape, police said. A third man, Darrin O. Carter, 32, of the 3300 block of West Polk Street in Chicago, then came in to help gather jewelry.

Police said Vaughn acted as a lookout and waited outside the store in a car. He and Carter were caught a few minutes after the robbery. Kelly and Harper outsped police in a Chevy Malibu, which was found three days later in Richton Park. Police recovered a 9mm pistol in the car.

Kelly and Harper were caught about a week after the robbery.

Vaughn is the third man to plead guilty to fewer charges since their indictments in Oct. 2011. All four men originally entered not guilty pleas on the 23 to 27 counts filed against them.

Harper pleaded guilty on Feb. 20 to one count of armed robbery and received 22 years in prison. In exchange for his plea, 21 charges of aggravated kidnapping and felony weapon possession were dropped. On Jan. 9, Carter was sentenced by to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of armed robbery.

Kelly's case was continued to 9:30 a.m. May 9 in Room 101 of the Bridgeview courthouse.

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