Trial continues today in robbery case: Rock Falls man charged with holdup at BP

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MORRISON – A Rock Falls man told investigators that he robbed a Sterling gas station in February because he was in debt to a drug dealer who threatened to harm his girlfriend if he didn’t come up with the money, a police officer testified.

Sterling Officer Jacob Reul told the court Tuesday that Marcus M. Taylor, 37, told police that he owed the dealer $150 for crack cocaine.

Reul’s testimony provided the jury with a possible motive during the first day of Taylor’s trial for the aggravated robbery of the BP gas station, 2218 E. Lincolnway. The trial was expected to resume this morning.

BP clerk Kevin Zulauf, 28, of Sterling, testified that he encountered Taylor around 7 a.m. Feb. 12 outside the gas station as Zulauf smoked a cigarette outside. He said Taylor followed him into the store, went to the restroom and then tried to pay for a drink with a LINK card.

When Zulauf told him the store does not accept LINK cards, Taylor became “very, very upset,” put the drink back and then returned to the counter and demanded money from the register. 

The clerk tried to talk Taylor out of robbing the store, but Taylor grabbed at his waistband, told him he had a gun and said “you don’t want me to use this,” Zulauf testified.

Taylor never took out a gun or any other weapon during the robbery, Zulauf said.

He then gave Taylor $178 from the cash register and two packs of cigarettes before Taylor fled on foot. Zulauf said he then called the police and gave them Taylor’s description.

A Swiss Valley Farms milk delivery man, who was making a stop at the time of the robbery, tracked Taylor after he left the store and directed police to the front of Lincoln School at East Sixth Street and 15th Avenue, where they arrested Taylor several minutes later.

Reul said a gun was never located and Taylor denied threatening the clerk with a gun. 

Taylor is represented by Whiteside County Public Defender Bill McNeal. Whiteside County State’s Attorney Gary Spencer is prosecuting the case.

This is the first of 5 cases against Taylor that are being tried in Whiteside County.

He is charged with a total of 16 counts of criminal transmission of HIV for allegedly having unprotected sex with three Whiteside County women without telling them that he has the virus. He also faces burglary and forgery charges for allegedly stealing checks and using them at area gas stations and stores.

He has been in the Whiteside County Jail since February on a $650,000 bond.

Spencer said the aggravated robbery case was tried first because it is the most serious felony Taylor faces and, because of his prior criminal history, he is eligible for an extended term in prison if convicted.

Taylor was paroled in November on a Cook County conviction for possession of a controlled substance. He also was convicted in 1991 for felony use of a weapon, also a Cook County charge. In Whiteside County, he was convicted of aggravated battery in 1996, burglary in 2002, and retail theft in 2006.