An Illinois judge has sentenced 30-year-old Ezekiel Thompson to 30 years in prison for his role in the armed robbery of a Verizon store on Ogden Avenue in Lisle, capping off a years-long case that started with a masked holdup and ended with both suspects headed to state prison.
The sentence was handed down in DuPage County on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Thompson will receive credit for the time he has already spent behind bars.
Prosecutors announced the outcome in a post on the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office Facebook page, noting that Associate Judge Joseph T. Bugos imposed the term after Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery with a firearm. The office also credited Assistant State’s Attorneys Bethany Jackson and Adam Frahm for their work on the case and thanked the local police agencies that helped bring it together.
How the robbery unfolded
According to a DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office press release, the robbery went down just before 7 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2020. Two men, armed and wearing hoods and masks, walked into the Verizon store at 1104 Ogden Avenue, where a single employee was working.
Prosecutors say one of the men pointed a gun at the employee and forced him to the back of the store to open a vault. The robbers then had the employee load a duffel bag with about 60 cellphones and other electronics, bound him with zip ties and took off in the employee’s vehicle.
The escape did not last long. The suspects were later found and taken into custody after a brief foot chase. Investigators from Lisle worked the case with assistance from police in Woodridge, Downers Grove and Darien, according to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Sentence follows cousin’s earlier plea
Thompson is the second cousin involved in the robbery to be sentenced. His co-defendant and cousin, Aaron Thompson, received a 22-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections in January 2025 after entering a blind plea, according to the Daily Herald.
Coverage at the time laid out the same Feb. 1, 2020 Verizon robbery details and noted the cooperative investigation that helped track down the two men.
Charges, enhancements and prosecution notes
Armed robbery with a firearm is a Class X felony in Illinois, the most serious category short of murder. Prosecutors pointed out that because the defendants were alleged to be armed, the case carried a statutory sentencing enhancement on top of the base charge.
In their announcement of Ezekiel Thompson’s sentence, the state’s attorney’s office again highlighted the coordinated police work and the efforts of the assistant state’s attorneys who handled the case from charging through conviction. For additional background on the original charges and the arrests, the office pointed readers to its formal release from the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.
What officials emphasized
According to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office, the lengthy prison terms for both cousins reflect how seriously officials viewed a crime in which an employee was threatened at gunpoint, tied up and left behind as the robbers fled with high-end merchandise.
Prosecutors publicly thanked the Lisle, Woodridge, Downers Grove and Darien police departments for their roles in the investigation, noting that the outcome in court was the result of years of coordinated effort between those agencies and the State’s Attorney’s Office.
