JOLIET, Ill. (STMW) - A southwest suburban teenager who robbed and fatally shot an ice cream vendor in what prosecutors called "a callous act of greed and brutality" was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison.

Monta Travis, 18, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed robbery in December by Circuit Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak, according to the Will County State's Attorney's office. On Friday, the judge sentenced him to 45 years.

Travis gunned down Manuel Villagomez, who was pushing an ice cream cart in the 300 block of Grant Avenue at about 1 p.m. on Aug. 26, 2007. Travis rode a bicycle up to the victim, shot him three times and left him to die in the street, the release said.

Travis and an accomplice, Curtis Russell Jr., 23, of Joliet, then stole an undisclosed amount of cash from Villagomez before fleeing. Russell pleaded guilty in 2008 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Joliet police picked Travis up on the afternoon of the murder based on eyewitness reports of the shooting, the release said. He confessed to the murder and robbery under police questioning.

"Monta Travis gunned down an innocent man who was selling ice cream from a push cart on a summer day and working hard to provide for his family," State's Attorney James Glasgow said in the release. "Because of his act of callous greed and brutality ... Travis will spend the better part of his life in prison where he cannot harm another innocent person."

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