Woman charged with robbery after failing at second try
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com November 30, 2012 11:18AM
Naperville Police investigate an armed robbery at at the Phillips 66 gas station on Ogden Ave on Thursday, November 29, 2012 in Naperville IL. | Terence Guider-Shaw~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: January 3, 2013 6:25AM
“Hey, Ana - c’mon.”
Naperville police said those were the incredulous words of an employee of a dry cleaning business, after she recognized a would-be robber as a woman she had worked side by side with earlier this year.
The jig was up in more ways than one for Ana M. Barajas following the aborted robbery attempt. Police said Barajas, upon being recognized, let out a laugh and took off the ski mask she was wearing, only to be promptly identified by another employee as having once been his classmate at Naperville North High School.
Barajas, 22, of Lisle, remained Saturday in DuPage County Jail on $75,000 bail. She is charged with aggravated robbery in the alleged Thursday stick-up of a service station less than a mile from the dry cleaning establishment.
Police Sgt. Lou Cammiso said Barajas is charged with entering the Ogden Phillips 66 station at 1107 E. Ogden Ave. about 5:56 p.m. Thursday. She wore a ski mask and pointed what appeared to be a black semi-automatic handgun at the attendant before escaping with $300 and 10 packets of cigarettes, Cammiso said Friday.
Little more than an hour later, at 7:16 p.m., Barajas allegedly entered the CD One Price Cleaners at 340 E. Ogden Ave., about three-quarters of a mile south and west of the gas station. The masked Barajas approached an employee there and announced the holdup, Cammiso said.
That worker later told police “she recognized the voice as that of a former employee,” namely, Barajas, Cammiso said. Barajas worked at the dry cleaners for about eight months before leaving in April, he said.
The woman behind the counter “basically said, ‘Hey, Ana - c’mon’” to Barajas’ face, Cammiso said.
Barajas “continued with her attempt to get money,” with the employee again addressing Barajas by her first name, Cammiso said. Barajas “at that point started to laugh and took the ski mask off,” he said.
Another worker almost immediately “recognized her face,” remarking out loud how he and Barajas had attended Naperville North High School together, Cammiso said. Barajas then left the building empty-handed, walking west on Ogden Avenue, he said.
Cammiso said the employees then telephoned the owner of the business, who came to the scene and notified police. The description the workers gave police of Barajas matched that of the woman sought in the gas station robbery, and Barajas was arrested later that evening outside her apartment on the 4400 block of Blackhawk Lane in Lisle, he said.
The “handgun” Barajas allegedly used in the Phillips 66 holdup proved to be a BB gun, Cammiso said,
Barajas has two other cases pending in DuPage County Circuit Court. She was arrested in early August by Lisle police after allegedly providing a false name and identification during a traffic stop, and was charged Aug. 30 by Naperville police with shoplifting from a business on the 100 block of East Ogden Avenue, according to court records.
She also was ticketed in March 2009 by Aurora police for retail theft. Records on file in Kane County Circuit Court indicated she was found guilty and fined $200 in that case.
Barajas’ arraignment date for the alleged gas station robbery is pending.
