Gas station robber in Pontoon Beach gets seven years in prison
From Illinois Business Journal news services
EAST ST. LOUIS — A Pontoon Beach man today was sentenced to seven years in prison for an armed robbery of a local gas station.
Shawn M. Bequette, 23, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, to a term of 92 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for the Oct. 6, 2014, robbery of a Conoco Phillips gas station in Pontoon Beach, U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Wigginton said.
Evidence showed that in the early morning hours that day Bequette robbed the station with a BB gun that resembled a real firearm, threatening the store clerk and demanding money from the cash register, along with the clerk’s wallet.
As Bequette fled the scene, two witnesses to the crime – who had arrived as the robbery was in progress – chased Bequette down and pinned him to the ground until Pontoon Beach police arrived to arrest him.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pontoon Beach Police Department, and prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Shane B. Kelbley.
