The Evanston man charged with robbing nearly a dozen hair salons in Chicago, Skokie, Morton Grove, Broadview and Niles was apprehended seven hours after the last reported robbery, when a witness provided a partial license plate to authorities, police said today.
Jason Logsdon, 41, of the 900 block of Chicago Avenue in Evanston, is charged with 11 counts of felony armed robbery, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.
“Everyone had a common goal, to get an offender off the street that was terrorizing small business owners,” said Tom Byrne, chief of detectives for the Chicago Police Department, during the news conference in Skokie.
Logsdon used a BB gun during the robberies, according to court records. It was recovered along with a red coat that he wore.
Logsdon was taken into custody Monday in Skokie, hours after a robbery on the North Side, authorities said. Skokie police found that they had stopped Logsdon for two minor traffic violations within the past year, before the string of robberies occurred.
He is suspected of robbing a hair salon in Broadview; five in Chicago; one in Morton Grove; two in Niles; and two in Skokie. The DuPage County State’s Attorney’s office is pursuing additional charges against Logsdon in connection for two robberies in Lombard, one in Glen Ellyn and one in Bensenville, officials said.
The Cook County charges were filed after witnesses viewed line-ups at the Skokie police station, authorities said. Officials declined to discuss the type of weapon used, but said that his motive at least initially was financial.
A pattern of robberies began emerging in late December, said Brian Baker, Skokie’s commander in charge of the investigative division.
The person who owned the car that Logsdon was driving had “no knowledge that these (robberies) were occurring,” Baker said.
Baker said that Logsdon was taken from the courthouse to a hospital but he did not know why.
During a court hearing today, Logsdon kept his head lowered during the proceedings.
His public defender described Logsdon as a student at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago. He was expecting to graduate in February, according to his lawyer. A spokesman at the school said he could not confirm or deny that information.
Logsdon is unemployed but has worked as a chef before, his lawyer said. He has lived in Evanston four years. His girlfriend is the owner of the car, according to the public defender.
He was arrested in 2003 for a DUI in Missouri, but otherwise has a clean record, lawyers said.
Logsdon was arrested after a salon in the Wicker Park neighborhood was hit. A man stole about $250 in cash from a Great Clips salon in the 1200 block of a well-trafficked North Ashland Avenue around 10:45 a.m. Monday, police said.
The man took out a handgun before presenting a dark bag to three salon workers, which one of them filled with money, Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien said. Wearing a red and gray jacket, blue jeans and a hat and scarf, the man walked north on Ashland and hopped in a gray colored sedan, which left driving southbound, police said.
No one was injured, police said.
A witness from that robbery provided a license plate number that was one digit off, Baker said. Chicago police ran variations on the number until they found a vehicle with a similar make and model as reported by the witness. The person who owned the car that Logsdon was driving had “no knowledge that these (robberies) were occurring,” Baker said.
Last Tuesday, a man robbed a Great Clips salon in the 1000 block of West Webster Avenue in the Sheffield Neighbors neighborhood, according to police. The man was given cash and fled the store, police said. Police think the same man may have held up salons in the 1200 block of North Clybourn Avenue on Jan. 21 and salons in the 1200 and 1300 blocks of West Fullerton Avenue in December.
Other police agencies have warned that the same man may be responsible for robberies in Niles, Skokie, Morton Grove, Bensenville, Lombard, and Glen Ellyn.
chicagobreaking@tribune.com
Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking
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