Three teenagers face charges following a carjacking that left a Naperville man hospitalized after traveling to Aurora for a date set up though the “MeetMe” social media app, Aurora police said Wednesday.
A 19-year-old woman and two younger teens have been charged with car hijacking and armed robbery on Aurora’s Near Southeast Side in connection with the incident, police said.
The group attacked and stole the car of a Naperville man, who thought he was meeting a female he’d been talking to online through the “Meet Me” app, police said.
“He was apparently set up by whomever he was talking with on the social media app,” Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said in an email.
Taytianna Blair Jones, 19, of the 400 block of East Downer Place; a 15-year-old DeKalb girl; and a 14-year-old Aurora boy have all been charged with aggravate vehicular hijacking, armed robbery, vehicular invasion and possession of a stolen motor vehicle in connection with the Nov. 25 events, according to Aurora police.
The charges of vehicular hijacking and armed robbery are class X felonies, which mean convictions would call for enhanced sentences.
At 1:30 a.m. Saturday, a 22-year-old Naperville man drove a 1997 Nissan Maxima to the 700 block of Concord in Aurora, where a female he thought he had been messaging on a social media app said to meet, according to police.
The woman said to contact her when he got there, and she’d give him more directions, Ferrelli said.
When the man told the person he’d been messaging that he was there, several people approached his car, pulled him out, and started beating and kicking him, according to a statement police released via Facebook.
At least one of the people was armed with what appeared to be a handgun, Ferrelli said. Aurora police did not recover any weapons from anyone in the area, he said.
Charging documents filed in Kane County allege Jones was armed with a spring gun.
The group demanded the man’s valuables, and he gave them his phone, wallet and car keys, police said.
Then one of the males involved chased the man away from the scene, according to police.
Aurora Fire Department paramedics took the man to an Aurora hospital for treatment of cuts and scrapes, police said.
The man said he last saw his car going westbound on Evans Avenue.
There doesn’t appear to be a reason why the man was targeted, Ferrelli said.
At 2:10 a.m., Aurora police learned Bellwood Police Department officers had run the license plate of the stolen Maxima near St. Charles Road and 30th Avenue.
More Top Picks Best Leather Ankle Boots For Women
Bellwood officers didn’t know the status of the car at the time, but noted several people were standing around it, according to the Aurora police statement.
Aurora detectives asked Bellwood officers to go back to where they saw the Maxima.
The Bellwood officers who responded found six people in a Toyota Camry in the immediate vicinity of the Maxima, Aurora police said.
The officers found a replica gun in the Camry and detained all six people inside, police said.
Aurora police said a preliminary investigation between the two agencies led to the charges, which the Kane County state’s attorney’s office authorized against the three teens.
Jones is in the Kane County jail, where her bail is set at $500,000. She’s due in court Thursday morning.
Police said the two juveniles were taken to the Kane County Youth Home.
Police said a 24-year-old Yorkville man, a 16-year-old boy from Chicago and a 16-year-old boy from DeKalb were released without charges.
Ferrelli said police don’t anticipate further charges.