Champaign man wanted in January robbery found by U.S. marshals

Mar. 14—URBANA — A Champaign man wanted for allegedly pistol-whipping a man in January has been arrested.

Robert E. Turner III, 19, whose last known address was in the 1900 block of Nancy Court, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of armed robbery, aggravated battery with a weapon and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in connection with a Jan. 8 attack on an Urbana man.

A Champaign County sheriff's deputy's report said that late on that Sunday, Turner's friend, Tatiyana Peppers, 20, of Champaign, picked up a male friend and took him to the Nancy Court apartment. They were having sex when a man wearing a black ski mask and a black sweatsuit entered the bedroom.

The intruder, later identified as Turner, ordered the man in the bed to "give me everything you got" then allegedly hit the man in the face with the butt of a semiautomatic pistol. The victim said he had nothing and the intruder ordered him to leave, then walked him down the stairs at gunpoint.

When the victim was unable to open the back door, Turner allegedly pistol-whipped him several more times, causing the man to bleed heavily from the head. He then ran out the front door, leaving behind his iPhone, black Jordan tennis shoes and sweatpants that had $100 in the pocket.

The man told sheriff's deputies that he knew the suspect only as Robert, a friend to Peppers. He noted that the intruder did not threaten Peppers, who was in the bed with him, and that she laughed as he was being robbed.

Deputies later obtained a search warrant for the Nancy Court apartment and found bloodstains on a wall in the bedroom and more near the back door. They also found identification and documents belonging to Turner as well as a black face mask and a Nike sweatsuit in the bedroom.

A warrant had been issued for Turner's arrest on Jan. 24. U.S. marshals found him Monday at a home on West Church Street in Urbana. Judge Brett Olmstead, who previously set bond at $600,000, ordered that the bond should remain as set. Turner faces six to 30 years in prison if convicted of armed robbery. He's due back in court April 11.

Peppers was charged with robbery, appeared in court Feb. 13 to be arraigned and remains free on recognizance while awaiting trial.

Court records show that at the time of the holdup, Turner was on parole for unlawful possession of a gun without a firearm owner's identification card. He also had a juvenile adjudication for robbery.