FBI: Wicker Park Bank Robbery Is Suspect's Fourth
CHICAGO (STMW) - A suspect in three bank robberies struck again Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
The FBI believes the man, about 35 years old and 6-feet or 6-feet-1, robbed a Chase Bank branch on the Near Northwest Side in the Wicker Park neighborhood.
The robbery occurred at 1:59 p.m. at a Chase Bank branch in the 1900 block of West Division Street, police News Affairs Officer Darryl Baety said.
Wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, the suspect passed a bank employee a note demanding money and fled on foot after the employee complied, Baety said.
Baety said he did not have a gun and there were no injuries.
The FBI is investigating.
Saturday's robbery appears to be the man's fourth in two months, and the Chase Bank he hit marks the third Chase he struck, according to officials.
The first robbery was Nov. 29, 2011 at a North Community Bank branch at 2335 N. Clark St. in Lincoln Park, according to the FBI.
The man reportedly robbed a second bank Dec. 7, 2011 at another Lincoln Park bank, this one a Chase Bank branch at 2603 N. Halsted St.
In his third suspected robbery, the man robbed a Chase Bank Downtown at 71 W. Chicago Ave., on Dec. 24, 2011 according to the FBI.
The FBI said the suspect implied he had a weapon in the Dec. 24 offense -- but never showed one -- and hasn't displayed a weapon or caused injuries in any of the alleged crimes.
A different man -- known as the "Wicker Park Bandit" -- allegedly robbed the same North Community Bank branch Dec. 20, 2011 that Saturday's suspect robbed on Nov. 29, 2011.
However, authorities have not indicated that the two incidents were related or that the men work in tandem.
The "Wicker Park Bandit", suspected in eight robberies, is a black man, 20 to 30, 5-foot-2 to 5-foot-7 with a thin build, black hair and brown eyes. He was dubbed the "Wicker Park Bandit" because most of his robberies happened in and around Wicker Park.
A reward is being offered for information leading to either man's arrest, the FBI said.
Anyone with information should call the FBI at (312) 421-6700.
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