FBI: Fingerprint on demand note snags man suspected of robbing same bank 4 times

A fingerprint on a demand note led police to a man who is suspected of robbing the same Loop bank on four separate occasions.
David Gregory, 57, of the 7900 block of South Normal Avenue, was arrested Friday and charged with the Sept. 30 robbery of the Chicago Community Bank, 52 E. Lake St., according to the FBI.
According to court records, Gregory entered the bank in the morning hours of Sept. 30 and handed the teller a note that said he had a gun and a bomb. The note also demanded money from the teller drawer, the FBI said. After the teller handed over $631, Gregory fled the scene on foot, records stated.
The FBI recovered the note at the scene and conducted a forensic examination that later determined a fingerprint left on the note belonged to Gregory.
Though he has only been charged in connection with one robbery, the FBI said today he was suspected in the robbery of the same bank on three other occasions, the FBI said.
The same bank was robbed Aug. 12, Sept. 6 and Oct. 12. In the first incident, the robber wore a dark long-sleeve shirt, a beige tie and black pants. In the second, the robber wore a tan hat, a tan jacket and was carrying a black backpack. The third incident, the robber sported beige again, wearing a military-style cap, a beige jacket, a light-colored dress shirt and dark jeans, the FBI said.
The FBI previously had said that the man who robbed the Chicago Community Bank four times was suspected in the robbery Oct. 14 of the U.S. Bank branch in the 300 block of North Michigan Avenue.
Gregory was ordered held without bond on Friday

October 12, 2011- Man robs Loop bank for 4th time in 2 months

A man the FBI suspects of robbing a downtown bank branch three times since August held up the same bank again this afternoon, according to the FBI.
The man entered the Chicago Community Bank branch, 52 E. Lake St., about 1:30 p.m., and went up to a teller counter, according to the FBI. The man gave the teller a note that implied he had a gun and demanded money.
Although the man threatened to harm the teller, he did not display a gun, according to a release from the FBI.
The man then fled on foot, heading east toward Michigan Avenue.
The robber was described as a black man in his 40s, standing about 5-foot-8. He was wearing a baseball cap and a white tank top in today's robbery

Store worker shot Park Manor neighborhood

A store worker was shot and seriously wounded in a robbery at a grocery store in the Park Manor neighborhood on the South Side this evening. in the Park Manor neighborhood.
The man, who police said was believed to be in his early 50s, was taken from the shop in the 7100 block of South Rhodes Avenue to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious-to-critical.
The man was at the register in the grocery about 6:50 p.m. when a man armed with a handgun came into the store and demanded money, police said in a media release.
The robber then shot the store employee in the face and stomach and fled.

Loop bank robbed for third time in two months

A Loop bank branch was robbed Friday morning for the third time since August.

 A man in his 40s wearing beige clothing entered the Chicago Community Bank branch at 52 E. Lake St. at 9:30 a.m. and handed a teller a threatening note that demanded money.

 “He implied he had a weapon,’’.

 The teller complied and the suspect fled of foot eastbound on Lake Street, the lieutenant said. No one was hurt.

 The suspect, a black man, was wearing a beige military-style cap, beige jacket and shirt, and dark jeans, Guerrero said.

 It was not immediately known whether a dye pack or GPS chip was included in the proceeds.

 At least two other robberies occurred at that branch.

 On Sept. 6, about 3:05 p.m. a man walked into the bank, demanded money and fled.

 Another robbery occurred at 9:20 a.m. Aug. 12 by a man wearing a tie. The suspect handed the teller a note demanding money and pointed a handgun wrapped in a newspaper.There were no dye packs with the money.

 That robber was described as a black man about 30, with a slim build, wearing a black baseball cap, black shirt and pants, gold or beige tie and sunglasses. He was about 5-foot-8 and carrying a backpack.

Woman robs downtown bank after threatening teller

A woman walked into a downtown bank branch this morning and fled with cash after threatening a teller.
The robber entered the Chase branch at 600 North Dearborn St. at about 9 a.m., handed a teller a note announcing the robbery and threatened harm if her demands weren't met.
She got an undisclosed amount of money and fled on foot.
She was described as white, between 25 and 30 and about 5-foot-7. She had brown hair and sported a ponytail. She wore sunglasses, a black sweatshirt, black pants, a baseball-type cap and carried a black purse.
She did not display a weapon.
Of the 59 bank robberies in the Chicago area this year, this is the second committed by a woman, said FBI spokeswoman Cynthia Yates. The first was dressed as a nun in a Palos Heights robbery, and she has been captured.

Man charged with robbing North Side bank

A 51-year-old man was charged today with robbing a North Side bank and is suspected in at least one other heist in August.
James D. Erwin was charged in a federal criminal complaint with Thursday's robbery of the Lakeside Bank at 2800 North Ashland Avenue, during which he used a screwdriver to stab a security guard who had followed him out of the building and tried to detain him.
Chicago police arrived during the struggle and were able to arrest Erwin without further injury, and the guard was treated at the scene and did not require hospitalization.
An FBI news release said Erwin also is suspected in, but not charged, in an Aug. 2 robbery of a Bank of America branch at 3215 N. Lincoln Ave.

FBI seeks suspect in SW Side bank robbery

A man in his 40s robbed a bank on the Southwest Side this morning and escaped on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.
The man entered the Second Federal Savings Bank at 3960 W. 26th St. and walked up to a teller, handing her a note announcing a robbery.
After being given an undisclosed amount of money, the man fled. No weapon was displayed and no injuries were reported.
According to the FBI, witnesses described the man as black, about 45-50 and 5-foot-7, with a medium build. He was bald, with a mustache and eyeglasses

Chicago man pleads guilty to robbing bank in Rockford (Forget the Mexican border put a fence around Chicago)

 Chicago man has pleaded guilty to robbing a Rockford bank in May and also admitted robbing a gas station a few days before that heist.
Gregory E. Lockett, 39, of Chicago pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges for the May 10 robbery of the Associated Bank, 3333 N. Rockton Ave. in Rockford.
Lockett said he displayed a fake handgun, jumped over the teller counter and took a total of $8,549 before fleeing.
As part of his written plea Lockett also admitted robbing $80 from a Mobil gas station and convenience store on May 7.

Police use GPS to track down bank robbery suspect

A robbery suspect was arrested on the South Side today after police tracked his movements through a GPS device hidden with cash he stole from a bank in Evanston.
The man entered the Bank of America Bank branch in the 1300 block of Chicago Avenue in Evanston around 11 a.m. todayI. He approached a teller at a window and presented a note demanding money.
The teller handed over an undetermined amount of cash, which the robber put in his pants pocket as he walked out into the parking lot.
Police were able to follow him because a GPS device had been placed in a money pack, according to Chicago police, who joined the tracking near the 4500 block of North Lake Shore Drive.
The suspect, along with a passenger, were arrested at 81st Street and Yates Avenue in the South Chicago neighborhood. Officers seized a fake gun and cash

Loop bank robbed

A robber held up a Loop bank this morning and fled on foot, last seen walking away on Lake Street near Wabash Avenue.
The man approached a teller at the Chicago Community Bank branch at 52 East Lake Street. displayed a handgun and announced a robbery.
He took an undetermined amount of cash and fled down Lake Street. No injuries were reported.
The robber was described as black, around 30, 5-foot-9, slim build and wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and a shirt and tie.

Bank robbed on Southwest Side

Two armed men walked into the First American Bank on the Far Southwest Side this morning, announced a robbery, jumped over the counter and cleaned out several teller drawers, according to the FBI.
But a dye pack mixed in with the cash exploded shortly after they ran out of the branch at 11821 S. Western Ave. in the Morgan park neighborhood.
Undeterred, the two jumped into a car and sped off, but collided with a garbage truck just blocks away, the FBI said.
Witnesses told agents the robbers kept driving after the crash and were last seen heading east on 116th Street.
The robbers were described as black, in their early 30s and wearing dark clothing.  One of the robbers had a long black and gray beard, the other had a short black beard.
Anyone with any information about the robbery should call the Chicago office of the FBI at (312) 421-6700 or any local law enforcement agency.

North Side bank branch robbed

A Bank of America branch on Chicago's North Side was robbed this morning.
About 9:06 a.m., a man walked into the branch at 3215 N. Lincoln Ave. in Lakeview, went up to a teller, announced the robbery, and "threatened harm if his demands for cash were not met,". The man was given an undisclosed amount of cash and left the bank on foot in an unknown direction.
No weapon was seen.
The man is described in the release as being white, 50-60 years old, 5-feet-9-inches to 5-feet-10-inches tall and weighing 200 pounds. He had a mustache and was wearing a dark T-shirt and an orange camouflage hunting cap.
BEAT 1924

Man convicted of killing bank teller during Chatham bank robbery

An accused head of a stick-up crew that robbed small restaurants and banks at gunpoint was found guilty today by a federal jury in Chicago of fatally shooting a bank teller during a 2007 holdup of a South Side bank.  
David Vance gunned down teller Tramaine Gibson, 23, after he was unable to open a vault during the robbery at the Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan in Chatham in May 2007. Two accomplices engaged in a shootout with a security guard, wounding him and an elderly customer in the bank.
Vance's co-defendant, Alton Marshall, who pleaded guilty to avert the death penalty, testified for the prosecution, identifying Vance as an accomplice.

Wounded victims describe fatal bank robbery

A retired school teacher and security guard calmly recounted in federal court today how they were shot and wounded four years ago when three masked men stormed into a Chatham neighborhood bank.

One of the alleged suspects, David Vance, is on trial in federal court in connection with the takeover robbery in which teller Tramaine Gibson was fatally shot.
Customer Dorothy Sanders told jurors she realized a bank robbery was underway that day in May 2007 when she saw a man running inside Illinois Federal Savings and Loan as she met with the branch manager.

"I started standing up, getting ready to go out the door," she recalled. “I knew I was in a bank robbery, so that's why I put my wallet in my bra. ... Next thing I knew I was in the ambulance."

Vance allegedly shot Gibson, 23, after he was unable to open a vault in the bank in the 8700 block of South Martin Luther King Drive. Two accomplices engaged in a shootout, wounding Sanders and a security guard.

Sanders described softly but matter-of-factly the gunshot wounds to her left arm that ended up lodged in her right side.

The security guard, Earl Coleman, also testified today that he was shot twice as he exchanged fire with the gunmen.

"The first thing I saw was one of the bank robbers jump over the teller counter," Coleman said as an enlarged image of surveillance tape of the armed gunman was displayed on a screen in the federal courtroom.

"The only way I knew they was armed was when they started shooting at me," Coleman said of the three suspects.

Coleman, who had worked at the bank since 2000, said he fired six shots from his .357 Smith and Wesson.

Man charged for robbing McKinley Park bank

A 40-year-old man has been charged in connection with a robbery at a Fifth Third Bank on the Southwest Side in the city's McKinley Park neighborhood, officials said today.
yan Mason, whose last known address was on the 1600 block of West 38th Street, was charged Wednesday with one count of bank robbery and was ordered held without bail, officials said.

Mason confessed to the FBI after he was identified by Fifth Third Bank employees at a branch located at 1950 W. 33rd St., according to a federal criminal complaint filed in a Northern District of Illinois court.

A witness affidavit said a man approached a teller's counter shortly before 4 p.m. on Wednesday and asked for change. He then handed the teller a note in all capital letters that read "put the money in an envelope, there are more people around, do not cause a scene or they will come in."

The teller gave the man $823, including bills with pre-recorded serial numbers and a dye pack, according to the affidavit. The teller described the robber as a man with a beard, wearing sunglasses, a brown hat and a brown sweater.

The robber, later identified as Mason, fled the scene, officials said. Another bank employee saw him walking eastbound on 33rd Street toward Archer Avenue after the robbery, records stated.

The employee exited the bank and got the attention of an Illinois State trooper who was parked in a lot near the bank, records stated. The employee told the trooper that the bank had just been robbed and pointed toward the fleeing robber. The trooper notified the Chicago Police Department, which sent out a flash dispatch message.

About 4:20 p.m., an officer found a black backpack on the ground near 3332 S. Archer Ave., about two-tenths of a mile southeast of the bank. A white envelope with red-stained money, two pair of shoes, a brown hat, brown sweater and sunglasses were found near the backpack, records said.

Five minutes later, officers saw a man with no shoes climbing a fence up to the roof of a garage in an alley on the 3300 block of South Hoyne Avenue. Police stopped the man because he had no shoes on and matched the physical description of the robber.

Mason was taken back to the bank where he was identified by two employees as the robber, according to the complaint.

He was arrested and taken to the FBI Chicago Division's headquarters where he admitted he robbed the bank, according to court records.

Mason is scheduled to appear in court again Friday morning.

Woman accused of robbing bank in nun habit 9 (Forget the Mexican border put a fence around Chicago)

A Chicago woman robbed a Palos Heights bank of $120,000 at gunpoint while wearing a mask and nun habit similar to one worn in the movie, “The Town,” federal authorities charged today.

Navahcia Edwards had previously worked at the TCF Bank branch in Palos Heights that was the scene of the holdup on May 29, according to the federal complaint.
Edwards and a male accomplice who has not been arrested both wore the nun outfits and displayed weapons during the takeover of the TCF Bank.

Records from a costume shop show that Edwards used her Visa card to purchase two “Nun on the Run adult masks” 10 days before the robbery, the FBI alleged.

Video surveillance from the bank matches the masks, according to the complaint. In addition, she also used a credit card to purchase the “Adult Funny Nun Costume” from another website, authorities said.

It is the second time in a month that federal authorities have slapped Edwards with charges in a bank theft. She was released on her own recognizance earlier this month after being charged with embezzling almost $20,000 in cash while working at a Chase Bank branch in Country Club Hills.

According to the new charges against her, Edwards appears to have robbed the TCF Bank so she could pay back much of the money she allegedly stole from Chase branch.

Edwards worked at the TCF bank for four months in 2010.

MAP OF CHICAGO'S LATEST "WILDING" ATTACKS

FROM CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

2 charged in Bucktown bank robbery

Federal authorities today charged two Chicago men accused of stealing more than $15,000 from a Bucktown neighborhood bank in a daylight holdup this week.

The men, Demetrius Patterson and Quinton Vaughn, along with a juvenile were apprehended by Chicago police officers just minutes after the Thursday morning robbery at a FirstMerit Bank branch, 2130 W. North Ave.
The juvenile, a 17-year-old boy, was later found to not have been involved in the bank robbery, police said.
Patterson, 42, and Vaughn, 20, each were charged with bank robbery and possession of a firearm, according to a criminal complaint released by the FBI's Chicago office. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole this afternoon ordered both men held without bail until their next court appearance, which was scheduled for Tuesday.

After the robbers entered the bank at about 11 a.m., Vaughn went to the back of the bank asking for the manager, while Patterson vaulted over the teller's counter, displaying a handgun and demanding cash, authorities said.

“No dye packs,” Patterson demanded of the tellers, referring to the device resembling bank notes that explodes brightly-colored ink on bank robbers and their stolen cash,  the complaint said.

After stealing about $15,506 cash, the robbers fled the bank on foot, but were spotted by several police officers in the area and were arrested after a short foot chase.
While an eyewitness told authorities that the teen was at bank during the robbery and appeared to have been involved, police detectives determined that the boy had stolen a laptop computer from a nearby pawn shop prior to the bank robbery and fled to the area where the two suspects were picked up by police, police spokesman Officer John Mirabelli said.
Police recovered the laptop the teen had hidden beneath his vest.
The teen was later charged as a juvenile with retail theft and obstructing his identification, a misdemeanor, Mirabelli said.
Eyewitnesses identified Patterson and Vaughn as the bank robbers, officials said. In addition to the cash, authorities recovered a .380-caliber pistol containing seven rounds, latex gloves, a BB gun and several clothing items matching clothing that the robbers wore.

3 held in Northwest Side bank robbery

Three people were being held in connection with a bank robbery in the city's Bucktown neighborhood this morning, authorities said.
The robbery of a FirstMerit Bank branch, 2130 W. North Ave., occurred before 10:30 a.m., said FBI Chicago office spokeswoman Cynthia Yates.
Chicago police officers arriving at the scene captured the three robbers as they made their escape, recovering weapons and the stolen cash, said police spokeswoman Officer Laura Kubiak. She didn't know how much money was stolen. A large number of uniformed and plainclothes cops rushed to the scene,
A police official identified the three suspects as two men and one juvenile. FBI officials would only confirm two suspects as being in custody, adding that bank robbery charges were expected against them, either late today, or early Friday.
FBI agents remained on the scene this afternoon, questioning witnesses, authorities said.

TCF bank branches robbed in separate incidents

A man robbed a TCF Bank branch this afternoon on the city's Northwest Side near the Brickyard Mall, authorities said.

The robber walked into the TCF bank in the 2500 block of North Narragansett Avenue at about 1 p.m. and made a "verbal threat" toward a teller in demanding cash from a bank drawer, according to Chicago police spokesman Officer John Mirabelli. The robber never displayed a weapon, he added.

The robber took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled in a white, older-model sedan driven by a woman, Mirabelli said.

The FBI's Chicago office quickly released surveillance video of the robber. He was described as a man in his 30s, with a husky build, wearing a Chicago Cubs baseball cap and a dark-colored pea coat.

The female driver was only described as having a blond ponytail.
Also today, another man robbed a TCF branch in the 7100 block of West 40th Street in southwest suburban Stickney, according to the FBI.

This robber, wearing a Chicago Bears cap, also didn't display a weapon when ordered cash from a teller. Stickney police couldn't provide any details on the robbery.

He was described as a White or Hispanic man in his 30s, with a medium build, either 5-foot-9, or 5-foot-10, with brown hair and eyes.

No injuries were reported in either robbery. Authorities are offering rewards for information leading to the arrests of either robber.