First of three suspects guilty in beating of elderly woman

Bill Gang

Thursday, Nov. 11, 1999 | 12:33 p.m.

A District Court jury has convicted the first of three men charged with posing as cable company repairmen to gain entry into the home of a 78-year-old woman who was robbed and beaten unconscious.

The jury in District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom deliberated only two hours before convicting Lewis Stewart late Tuesday of a variety of charges that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 21.

During the trial the elderly victim told how on Jan. 24 the three men wearing Cox Communications uniforms talked their way into the East St. Louis Avenue home where she had lived for 39 years.

They explained that there were reception problems in the area and they needed to check the cable television equipment, she told the jury.

But once inside they announced that it was a robbery and ordered her to give them her cash and jewelry, said Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon.

Instead she grabbed her pistol from under her bed but was unable to free it from its holster. She told how the bandits responded by subduing her with pepper spray and beating her with their fists.

She awoke with her hands, feet and mouth taped, but managed to free herself and obtain help.

Guymon said she had to spend three days in a hospital because of the injuries to her face and arm.

Authorities got a break in the case when a girlfriend of one of the three defendants notified police, the prosecutor said.

The victim identified them at a preliminary hearing and Stewart later confessed.

The jury convicted him of first-degree kidnapping of a victim over the age of 65, battery with substantial bodily harm, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary.

Trials for the other defendants -- Bruce Norman and Steven Bennett -- are scheduled for December and January.

Cox Communications Vice President Steve Schorr said the incident demonstrates how important it is for residents to take precautions when answering a door to anyone who claims they work for a utility or other agency.

"We do not have crews in the field that randomly knock on doors and go into homes," Schorr said.

"To get inside a house, an appointment has to be made in advance of us sending someone out. If a Cox Communications employee or contractor needs to get into a back yard (to service equipment), he will knock on the door and ask for access into the yard, but will never ask to go inside in the house."

Also, Schorr said that all employees and contractors wear identification cards that include the company logo, a photo of the worker, the department the employee works in and an issue date.