Over the Labor Day weekend, police arrested a local man who is accused of holding up the Ferrara Pan candy store twice in the last four months.
Leon Pitts, of Forest Park , was arrested at a Chicago apartment on Sept. 2 for an alleged armed robbery of the Ferrara Pan Candy store, located near the company’s 7301 Harrison St. headquarters. When Pitts was taken to headquarters, he confessed to robbing the store in May, as well, Deputy Chief Tom Aftanas said. Aftanas also said Pitts made off with about $100 the second time he held up the store.
A suspicious-person call first alerted police to Pitts, who was sitting on a porch at a Forest Park residence near the candy factory. When interviewed by police, Pitts said he was waiting for his uncle to come and pick him up.
About an hour and a half later, the candy store called to report the robbery, and after police viewed security footage of the hold-up, they recognized Pitts from the earlier encounter.
The responding officers ran Pitts’ name through a police database and found a Chicago address. That’s where Pitts was apprehended later that day and then brought to the Forest Park police station, where he was booked for armed robbery.
It is currently unknown how much Pitts allegedly stole in the first hold-up. Sal Ferrara II, CEO of Ferrara Pan Candy Co., refused to comment for this story.
