Urbana man charged with armed robbery of online seller

May 7—URBANA — An Urbana man has been charged with robbing someone at gunpoint during a transaction he allegedly arranged.

Champaign County Judge Brett Olmstead ruled Monday that Deante S. Ulmer, 22, can remain free ahead of his trial on one count of armed robbery with a firearm.

Assistant State's Attorney Troy Lozar said the charges stemmed from an incident that began when a man who wanted to sell his PlayStation 5 on Facebook Marketplace arranged to meet an interested buyer in person on April 10.

The potential buyer, whose Facebook profile had Ulmer's photo but a different name, told the victim to meet in an apartment complex parking lot. Once there, a man approached the victim's car and pointed a silver handgun at him and took the console.

A surveillance camera captured someone leaving the area, and police showed the footage to the victim, who then identified the man in a photo lineup as the perpetrator.

A few hours later, the victim reported receiving text messages from someone who apologized for robbing him and asked for the police not to be involved. The person said they had left the game console in a park, and officers retrieved it.

Police then executed a search warrant Thursday at an address tied to Ulmer and found a silver handgun. Around 10 other people lived at the home, and another resident said the gun belonged to her, Lozar said.

When police searched the residence, Ulmer was wearing clothing that matched what the suspect was wearing in surveillance footage, Lozar said.

Arguing that Ulmer should be held in jail, Lozar said the silver handgun officers found may not be the same one used in the robbery, but it shows that Ulmer had access to a firearm. He emphasized that Ulmer was also on probation for a past burglary conviction.

Arguing for Ulmer to be released on conditions, his attorney, Public Defender Katty Sievers, noted that the clothing the suspect wore in the video was inconsistent with what the victim recalled the offender was wearing when they were robbed.

Sievers also pointed out that police presented the surveillance footage to the victim before the victim identified that suspect in the photo lineup. She argued it was possible that Ulmer's brother could also have had access to the gun and committed the robbery.

The judge noted that the state has a witness who identified Ulmer as the robber, and the Facebook Marketplace scheme indicates the robbery was premeditated. But the text apology also indicates that Ulmer is deterrable from allegedly re-offending while out on pretrial release, Olmstead said.

Ulmer faces six to 30 years in prison if convicted of armed robbery, a Class X felony.