Man Gets 6 Years For Pizzeria Stickup

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (STMW) - A young Naperville man was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for the late spring robbery of a carry-out pizza parlor only four blocks from his home.

Charlie Nicholson Jr., 19, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a Class X felony charge of armed robbery with a firearm. DuPage County Circuit Court Judge George J. Bakalis convicted him of the June 10 holdup of the Papa John's Pizza storefront in Naperville's River Valley Plaza strip mall.

Nicholson last lived in an apartment complex on the 700 block of Royal St. George Drive on the city's northwest side. The complex is only blocks north and east of Papa John's, at Ogden Avenue and Valley Drive.

Police were called at 9:10 p.m. that evening to the pizzeria, where four employees were on duty. A man wearing a black bandanna over his face and brandishing a handgun escaped with an undisclosed amount of money taken from the cash register.

A police officer remembered having seen a man in the area several hours earlier who matched the description of the gunman, police said in June. They investigated that lead, which led them to Nicholson's apartment.

"During the interview with Nicholson, several items of evidentiary value were recovered, and Nicholson was taken into custody without incident," police Cmdr. Dave Hoffman said in June. Those items reportedly proved to be the gun used holdup and the stolen money, which Nicholson had stuffed into a bag from a Naperville bookstore.

Court records showed Nicholson had no significant criminal record in DuPage County prior to the robbery. He has been held in DuPage County Jail since being arrested.

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