2-May-18 – For throwing an 81-year-old man down the stairs of a Loop CTA station during a robbery last October, a woman has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Victoria Dollarson (left), age 26, pleaded guilty to robbing a victim over the age of 60. Given credit for 195 days served and a sentence reduction for anticipated good behavior, Dollarson will be paroled in about three years. Circuit Court Judge James Obbish approved the plea deal.

On October 16, 2017, an elderly man was severely injured after being thrown down the concrete stairs of the Washington/Wabash Brown Line station during a robbery. Surveillance video showed the robber grabbing the victim’s hand and phone as he stepped off a train at around 9:25 p.m. A struggle ensued, and the victim fell down stairs leading to the street. He suffered bleeding on the brain, a cut to his head, swelling, and bruising.

When police released a community alert about the attack, tips began flowing immediately and Dollarson, who frequented social service agencies in Lake View, was identified.

The morning after the attack and before she was arrested, Dollarson wrote on Facebook, “It don’t even matter from this point. I’m definitely going back to jail smh [shaking my head]. I can’t deal with life. Tired of struggling. Tired of trying with a marriage that wasn’t gone [sic] last. Tired of my FUCKING LIFE PERIOD. Maybe I’m better off locked up. 15 years here I come. Mommy sorry baby, if I loved you like I claimed I did, I wouldn’t be in the situation I’m in.”

Across the internet, acquaintances and strangers urged Dollarson to turn herself in.

Court records show Dollarson pleaded guilty to manufacture and delivery of crack cocaine and received two years of probation in April 2017. A domestic violence arrest in September 2017 was recorded as a violation of her probation, and Circuit Court Judge Thomas Gainer, Jr., a month before the attack at the CTA station, reinstated the original sentence.