Nail Salon Naperville
A Naperville man charged with holding up a convenience food store in downstate Urbana is now accused of the March armed robbery of a Naperville nail salon during which the victims were tied up while laying on the floor.
Rio M. Franklin, 25, of the 1300 block of Crab Apple Court, was charged with armed robbery, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and four counts of aggravated unlawful restraint, all felonies, in connection with the March 25 robbery of the U.S. Nail Salon, 931 E. Ogden Ave., Naperville police said Wednesday in a news release.
Franklin is accused of displaying a semiautomic handgun while stealing cash and a customer's 2004 Volvo sport utility vehicle, the release said. A salon employee told the Naperville Sun in March the gunman ordered the three people inside the shop to lay on the floor as he bound their hands before he fled.
Franklin also is charged in the Feb. 25 armed robbery of a Circle K store in Urbana. As in the nail salon holdup, the employee on duty was told to get on the floor and had his hands bound before an undisclosed amount of money was taken from the cash register.
Naperville and West Chicago police took Franklin into custody April 24 at a relative or a friend's house in West Chicago.
Naperville Police Department
This surveillance video photograph depicts the man believed responsible for the March 25 armed robbery of the U.S. Nail Salon on East Ogden Avenue in Naperville.
This surveillance video photograph depicts the man believed responsible for the March 25 armed robbery of the U.S. Nail Salon on East Ogden Avenue in Naperville. (Naperville Police Department)
At least two other recent crimes have a Naperville-Champaign-Urbana connection.
On April 18, a gunman accosted a man in the 100 block of Testa Drive in Naperville and stole his 2007 Toyota Corolla. Three hours later, the car was used during the robbery of Dotty's Slots & Video Poker in Champaign.
Witnesses to the carjacking and the Champaign-Urbana robberies described the gunman as being a black man in his 20s dressed in all-black clothing, with a black mask concealing part of his face.
Illinois Department of Corrections records show Franklin served time in prison for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in 2011 in Sangamon County and for a 2014 home burglary in Champaign County.
Franklin is being held without bond in DuPage County jail because he is still on parole for the burglary conviction, according to records. No bond had been set for Franklin as of Wednesday afternoon in the nail salon case, records show. Bail of $750, 750 was set in the Urbana robbery.
Naperville police "continue to investigate Franklin for any possible connection to other Naperville-area crimes, " the release said.
Urbana Police Department
This surveillance video photograph shows the man believed responsible for the February armed robbery of a Circle K convenience store in downstate Urbana.
