Despite years of police warnings about the dangers of meeting strangers to buy or sell items found online, criminals continue to utilize social media to entice victims into robberies. One of those robbers was sentenced to prison this week on his 24th birthday after being apprehended last summer while Chicago police were using a drone to monitor the area.
It all happened on an August afternoon last year in the 2900 block of West Warren Boulevard, where CPD has previously cautioned the public about online marketplace scams. After CPD issued the community advisory in June 2024, the number of robberies ballooned over the summer, causing investigators to turn to the city’s increasing network of surveillance drones.
As a SWAT team’s drone discreetly watched from above, a 24-year-old Braidwood man rolled onto the street to purchase a motorized dirt bike he saw posted on Facebook Marketplace. That is the identical scenario outlined by CPD as being utilized to lure victims into the robbery trap.
According to the allegation, Lajuan Gaines, 22, of Carpentersville, purported to be the vendor, while Davontae Harvey stood in a neighboring yard “making furtive movements” with a fake gun. Before they could rob the victim, Chicago cops intervened and detained both of them, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors claimed that Gaines was involved in many such armed robberies during the summer, in addition to the one that police foiled. They claimed he pistol-whipped and intimidated the victims, who were all guys, before taking their money and phones. He continues to deny the charges.
Prosecutors only charged Harvey with the attempted robbery, which cops observed from above. They claimed that CPD’s drone allowed detectives to track him down as he fled the scene and changed his sweatshirt beneath a stairway. It also allowed CPD to demonstrate that there were no dirt bikes in the neighborhood for anyone to purchase.
According to court documents, Gaines and Harvey were on pretrial release at the time of the thwarted robbery on felony gun charges they had picked up separately in the summer of 2024.
Harvey has now pleaded guilty to both the gun and attempted robbery charges, putting those cases behind him.
According to court documents, Judge Joanne Rosado sentenced him to four years for robbery on Wednesday, while Judge Thomas Byrne sentenced him to three years on the weapons charge. With good behavior, he will be released after 3½ years.
Harvey arrived at Stateville Correctional facility’s welcome facility on Thursday. Today was his 24th birthday.
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