A man wearing a Teenage Ninja Turtles mask pulled his car up to the window of a drive-through pharmacy in Shiloh, Illinois and demanded a detailed list of prescription medications. He gave the pharmacist a note with instructions and said that if the pharmacist did not obey, force would be used and that there were other accomplices involved. However, before the man was delivered the medications, he drove off. Since he did not actually take anything, did a robbery occur? The short answer is yes. He can be charged with robbery, but not with theft.

You Do Not Have to Steal Anything in Order to Be Charged with Robbery

The offense of robbery is different than theft in that theft requires that something be unknowingly taken or attempted to be taken from the victim. The value of the property taken determines the level of the crime. Robbery, on the other hand, is a crime of violence and the value of goods taken or attempted to be taken has nothing to do with the level of the crime.

Burglary and robbery are legal terms that are commonly conflated. However, under Illinois law these terms refer to two distinct crimes. In a nutshell, a burglary occurs when a perpetrator enters a structure where he or she isnot legally permitted to be with the intent to commit a crime therein, while robbery on the other hand occurs when force, fear, and/or intimidation is used to take property from the person of another. However, it is important to note that burglary and robbery are defined slightly differently in each state.

Illinois’ Definition of Burglary

The Illinois Compiled Statutes, under section 720 ILCS 5/19-1, defines burglary as knowingly entering, or remaining in, a building, watercraft, house trailer, aircraft, railroad car, or motor vehicle without the authority to do so, with the intent to commit a felony or theft therein. However, if the intended felony or theft involves damaging a vehicle, removing part of a vehicle, or tampering with a vehicle then the perpetrator likely has not committed burglary.

Burglary, theft, and robbery are serious crimes, and each one hasdistinctive characteristics. Illinois law is very specific in how it defines these crimes and it takes a knowledgeable Rolling Meadows defense lawyer to explain how the laws differ and what the difference means moving forward in your case.

• Burglary is defined by Illinois law as entering the property of another, knowingly, and without permission, and with the intent to commit a theft or a felony once inside the property. It is a common misconception that the property needs to be a home. Boats, cars, railroad cars, even airplanes can be burglarized.
• Theft, as defined by Illinois law, is the unlawful or unauthorized taking of property from another person with the intent to permanently deprive that person of the property.
• Robbery is the most serious of these three offenses and generally carries the most severe punishments. The reason for that is the violent nature of the offense. Robbery is basically theft accomplished through the use of force, or the fear of force.

Can a Theft Turn into a Robbery?

This is a question you will want to ask your experienced cook county criminal defense lawyer. Generally, the short answer is yes. Theft can turn into robbery the moment the victim is physically harmed or is put in fear of harm. A common example is apurse snatching incident. If a woman sets her purse down on a table and someonewhisks by and takes it, a theft has occurred. However, if that person snatches the purse off of thesame woman’s arm, it is likely to be charged as a robbery.