Man sentenced in 7-Eleven robbery
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com November 21, 2012 11:40PM
Antonio M. Finley Date of birth 3/3/91 Lisle
Updated: December 24, 2012 7:22AM
A former Naperville resident who has been arrested or ticketed nearly 20 times in six years has been convicted of the summertime robbery of a convenience store in Lisle.
Antonio M. Finley, 21, pleaded guilty in DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton to a felony charge of robbery. He admitted his participation in the July 19 heist at the 7-Eleven store at 4651 Old Tavern Road, according to court records.
Judge Blanche Hill Fawell on Tuesday sentenced Finley to six years in prison, records indicated. He could be spared that term should he be deemed eligible for enrollment in a boot camp-style program run by the Illinois Department of Corrections, records showed.
Finley lived in Naperville before recently moving to Lisle. His alleged associates in the robbery included Steven V. Gayden, 17, of Aurora; Antwan Jones Jr., 18, of Chicago’s far south side; and Deshaun Wilson, 17, of Lisle.
Lisle police in July said the four entered the store, looted it and physically assaulted an employee before leaving. Paramedics took the worker to Edward Hospital in Naperville for treatment. Police said “miscellaneous items” were stolen, with no weapons used during the robbery.
Finley also was to have been tried on two misdemeanor charges of battery and battery causing bodily harm. He and a teenage boy were accused of beating a 21-year-old man just before 10 p.m. June 4 near the Burger King restaurant at 506 S. Washington St. near Naperville’s Riverwalk.
Those charges were dismissed on Sept. 10, according to court records.
Will County and DuPage County court documents indicated Finley between 2007 and 2011 was ticketed or arrested at least 16 times for traffic infractions, curfew violations and assorted misdemeanor crimes. He was sentenced early last year to 40 days in Will County Jail, after being found guilty of theft and retail theft, records showed.
In another matter, Finley on Feb. 26, 2011 met with a 25-year-old woman who had advertised her iPad for sale on Craigslist. She and Finley agreed to meet at Crab Apple Court and River Road, near Naperville’s Brush Hill neighborhood.
Finley snatched the iPad from the woman’s hands and ran. The woman and a companion chased him before calling police.
Police who went to the scene followed Finley’s footprints in the snow east to a home on Whispering Hills Court, where his mother lived. He was taken into custody there.
A judge last year sentenced Finley to 96 days in jail and placed him on two years of probation in that case.
Fawell in September convicted Gayden of a felony charge of robbery and sentenced him to four years in prison. Jones and Wilson are awaiting trial for their alleged roles in the robbery.
