Chicago Man Who Beat Elderly Veteran Denied Bail

26-year-old Olajuwon Claiborne was denied bail by a Cook County judge this morning, after he was accused of severely beating Josephine Regnier, a 94-year-old female Navy vet, in a robbery.[caption id="attachment_9298" align="alignright" width="253"]

Josephine Regnier served in the Navy for four years starting in 1945. (Judy Dusk)[/caption]The construction worker also allegedly robbed two other victims just days apart from each other - a 65-year old woman, and a 32-year-old woman.In this particular case, Claiborne allegedly followed Regnier into her home at around 11 A.M. and proceeded to beat her before robbing her of her purse, which contained just $50 dollars. He then jumped into his SUV (also stolen), and quickly proceeded to crash the vehicle into a light post. Fortunately, surveillance video caught him escaping the SUV, purse in hand. A reward was offered for information regarding the man, and Claiborne was quickly brought into custody, where he confessed to the three robberies. He used the same vehicle in all cases.Inside the courtroom, the judge could only shake his head when he heard that Regnier suffered a black eye, a head injury, and even broken ribs.

"If ever there were a case — with the exception of first-degree murder — that demanded no bond, it is this case," Brown told Claiborne. "The citizens of Chicago are not safe if Mr. Claiborne is allowed to walk the streets of Chicago."Regnier served in the US Navy in New York for four years, beginning in 1945. She would escort sailors to and from their ships for deployments and saw men return from war missing limbs.Her daughter, Judy Dusk told the Chicago Tribune that Regnier was released from the hospital on Saturday, but is still in extreme pain, even screaming when she lies down."He didn't have to (beat her)," she said. "He could have just took her purse. She's in so much pain right now. He preys on the elderly."Claiborne has four other felony convictions for theft and robbery, going back to 2009.