COOK COUNTY, IL – Cook County Sheriff’s Police arrested a 20-year-old La Grange Park man after he arranged to purchase a vehicle from an individual and then carjacked the victim at gunpoint, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
On March 9, the man, identified as David Herman Jr, of the 1500 block of Newberry Avenue in La Grange Park arranged to meet the seller of a Ford E250 van at a gas station. Herman requested to take the van on a test drive to his bank to withdraw the funds. While on the test drive, Herman pulled
into the parking lot of Zoo Woods Forest Preserve in Riverside under the pretense of checking the engine components a second time.
After checking the engine, Herman agreed to purchase the vehicle. When the seller attempted to reenter the vehicle, he observed Herman holding a handgun. The seller then fled and called the police.
On March 10, at approximately 12:40 a.m., Illinois State Trooper observed a Ford E250 crashed on the side of I-80. The vehicle was identified as having been stolen, and Herman was then arrested and taken to Sheriff’s Police Headquarters for questioning.
Herman appeared for a bond hearing in the Maywood Courthouse on the charge of aggravated vehicular hijacking, where he was issued a $150,000 D bond.
The public is reminded that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the government in a court of law.