Second cousin sentenced for armed robbery at Lisle Verizon store

DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. - A 30-year-old Aurora man will spend the next three decades in prison for his role in a 2020 armed robbery at a Lisle Verizon store, prosecutors said.

What we know:

A judge sentenced Ezekiel Thompson to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery with a firearm, a Class X felony.

Prosecutors said Thompson and his cousin, 30-year-old Aaron Thompson, also from Aurora, robbed the Verizon store at 1104 Ogden Avenue in Lisle on Feb. 1, 2020.

Ezekiel Thompson and Aaron Thompson

The two men entered the store around 6:48 p.m. wearing hoods and masks and carrying a gun. According to prosecutors, Ezekiel Thompson pointed the gun at the store’s lone employee and ordered him to the back of the store to open a vault containing cellphones.

The employee was told to fill a duffel bag with phones and other electronics. At one point, prosecutors said the employee begged for his life.

After the bag was filled, the men tied the employee’s arms and legs with zip ties, took his wallet and car keys and left in the employee’s car, which had been parked outside.

The cousins were later located in a Woodridge apartment complex parking lot. When officers approached, prosecutors said the men ran but were taken into custody after a brief foot chase.

Aaron Thompson pleaded guilty in September 2024 and was sentenced in January 2025 to 22 years in prison.

What they're saying:

"Cousins Ezekiel and Aaron Thompson, without any concern whatsoever for public safety or the rule of law, armed themselves with a gun, disguised their identity and threatened at gunpoint an innocent store employee, causing so much fear that the employee literally begged for his life," DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement.

"This type of violent crime has no place in civilized society and in DuPage County, law enforcement stands ready to confront this type of behavior and hold anyone accused of such accountable."