Violent sex offender charged in flower shop robbery, stabbing

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Alexander Hampton, 24, of the 3300 block of W. Douglas Blvd., was charged with armed robbery with a dangerous weapon in connection with a theft at the Asrai Garden flower shop at 1935 W. North Ave. | Chicago Police Dept. photo

Updated: February 22, 2012 6:24PM

A man with a history of sexual offenses was ordered held on $500,000 bond Wednesday on charges alleging he choked a Wicker Park flower shop employee into unconsciousness before stabbing her repeatedly.

Alexander Hampton, 24, of the 3300 block of West Douglas Boulevard is charged with armed robbery with a dangerous weapon in connection with the theft at the Asrai Garden flower shop at 1935 W. North Ave. on Feb. 17, police said.

On Wednesday, Hampton was ordered held on $500,000 and a preliminary hearing was set for March 12, Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokesman Andy Conklin said.

Prosecutors say Hampton entered the store and told the clerk he was deaf. When the 28-year-old woman gave him a clipboard, he began asking her what he could get his girlfriend, but those messages turned obscene.

He then grabbed the woman’s throat and pushed her into the back bathroom as she tried to fend him off, prosecutors allege. He choked her until she passed out and when she woke up, he was standing over her with a knife in his hand.

He walked her to the register and forced her to open it, taking $100 out, prosecutors said. But he became angry that there wasn’t more money, picked up a pocket knife from the floor and attacked the woman.

He first stabbed her in the ribs -- which later required two stitches, court records show. She put her hands up in a defensive stance and Hampton allegedly sliced her index finger, cutting a tendon in her pinky, court records show.

He then stabbed her in the neck and when the knife became stuck inside, he grabbed a wooden pole and beat the woman with it, prosecutors said.

That’s when the woman was able to break away, run into the bathroom and call 911, while Hamptong fled with the $100 from the register and the woman’s iPod, which had been in her purse, court records show.

The woman was initially taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in serious condition.

Authorities arrested Hampton, who the woman identified as her attacker in a police lineup. A neighboring business’ surveillance camera showed Hampton walking past just before the robbery.

Hampton was sentenced to four years in prison for a 2008 drug conviction and three years for possession of a stolen motor vehicle, records show. In 2006, he was convicted of aggravated battery and, as a juvenile, was conviced of a 2003 sex offense.

Police say Hampton never registered as a violent sex offender and has now been charged for that offense.