Boulder Hill Man Charged in Armed Robbery on New Year's Eve

Corey Paytes, 22, of the 0-99 block of Eastfield Road in Boulder Hill, was one of three men charged with the armed robbery of CiCi's Pizza in Plainfield on New Year's Eve, police said.

Paytes also confessed to , when he was an employee there, Plainfield Police Sgt. Mike Fisher said.

Paytes was charged with aggravated robbery and theft, and his bond was set at $1 million. Also arrested were Travis J. Gamble, 22, of Newark, who was charged with aggravated robbery, and Josiah C. McCroskey, 22, 5824 Lenox Road, Lisle, who was charged with theft.

Gamble's bond was set at $1 million, and McCroskey's at $100,000.

The three are believed to have been involved in multiple pizza restaurant robberies at the end of last year and in early January, including cases in St. Charles, Lisle, Yorkville and Naperville.

Fisher said the joined forces with other area police agencies to form a special taskforce charged with catching the suspects. That work included many stakeouts of pizza restaurants, until they got their break on Jan. 16, when task force members caught Paytes and Gamble as they robbed a , he said.

It was Paytes and Gamble who implicated McCroskey for his role in the crimes, Fisher said.

The three men are being held in the DuPage County jail, where their Will County warrants will be served. It's likely they'll also be charged with robberies that occurred in other towns, Fisher said.

The New Year's Eve robbery took place shortly after midnight. Two armed men wearing black clothing and ski masks entered the store and forced the lone employee to the floor as they emptied the safe. They then locked the employee in a freezer and fled, according to reports.

In the April 2011 case, two men wearing black hooded jackets and red bandanas across their faces contronted an employee as he was locking up for the night and stole a bank deposit envelop containing $2,000 in cash, reports said.