Edwin Alequin, 37, and Nicole Barkes, 29, of Sheridan (Photo courtesy of Aurora Police Dept.)

Charges have been filed against a Sheridan couple following the armed robbery of an Aurora woman last month in the parking lot of an Aurora strip mall.

Edwin Alequin, 37, and Nicole Barkes, 29,  both from the 200 block of Grant Street, Sheridan, are each charged with armed robbery, a Class-X felony and unlawful use of a credit card, a Class-4 felony. Alequin is also charged with an additional Class-1 armed robbery count.

According to Aurora police, officers responded to a parking lot in the 1900 block of West Galena Boulevard around 4:35 p.m. on Jan. 27 for reports of an armed robbery.

The victim, a 46-year-old woman, told police that she was approached by a man who asked for money and when she refused, he produced a gun that later turned out to be a pellet gun. She said when she began to run in fear, she heard four “pops”, which were later determined to be the suspect breaking out a window to the victim’s car with the butt end of the pellet gun.

Aurora Police Department spokesman Dan Ferrelli said the suspect ended up grabbing the woman’s purse off the front seat, and getting into an SUV that was later learned to be driven by Barkes. The SUV was last seen eastbound on Galena. The victim was not injured.

Following the incident, detectives learned that the victim’s stolen credit card had been used at a gas station in Berwyn and a department store in Forest Park within two hours of the robbery.

Police were able to secure video of the transactions which showed Barkes using the credit cards. They were also able to view the SUV used as a getaway car in the robbery was being driven by another subject who turned out to be Alequin.

Barkes was identified when police compared her driver’s license photo with pictures taken at the Berwyn and Forrest Park businesses and also from two Aurora pawn shops where Barkes was known to do business.

She was taken into custody without incident by Aurora Police detectives and Community Policing officers on Feb. 9 after they traveled to Sheridan and set up a surveillance on her home. They then witnessed her entering a car registered to one of her relatives and were able to stop it on Rt. 71 in Norway, Ill.

Police said Alequin eluded authorities until Feb. 17 when agents from the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force were able to trace him to an Aurora hospital where he was taken into custody without incident. Aside from the charges connected to the robbery, Alequin was also wanted on a contempt of court warrant by the Kane County Sheriff’s Office.

According to charging documents, Alequin and Barkes pulled the robbery so they could get money for their heroin addictions, Ferrelli said.

“This case demonstrated amazing teamwork between different divisions of the police department and an unwavering commitment to putting all the pieces of a complicated case together”, said Chief of Police Kristen Ziman. “By taking these two individuals off the streets, it very well could have prevented similar crimes from occurring.”

— Couple charged with armed robbery in Aurora —