Woman Charged With Robbing Bank While Dressed As Nun
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman has been charged with robbing a Palos Heights bank of $120,000 while wearing a "nun on the run" mask and habit similar to a group of bank robbers in the 2010 film "The Town."
Navahcia Edwards, who used to work at the Palos Heights TCF Bank branch, is charged with robbing the bank on May 29 while wearing a black nun habit and a mask "bearing the likeness of an exaggerated version of an elderly woman's face," according to a federal complaint filed against Edwards.
She and an accomplice allegedly robbed the bank while carrying guns.
Nun habits and masks looking similar to the ones used in the robbery seem to have been purchased by Edwards, according to the complaint. Two "Adult Funny Nun" costumes and two "Nun on the Run" adult masks were purchased before the robbery on a prepaid Visa card Edwards allegedly purchased with cash at a currency exchange in Markham, authorities said.
At Wednesday's hearing, Edwards read through the complaint next to her lawyer, at times narrowing her eyes, shaking her head or giving sighs of frustration.
Edwards worked at the same TCF bank robbed in May between July and November 2010, and, according to the complaint, would have known how to work the anti-theft devices and which bank vault only contained coins. The female robber at the TCF seemed to avoid the anti-theft devices and didn't ask a teller to open the coin vault.
A rental car that looked similar to one rented by Edwards was seen at the scene of the crime. Edwards also worked at a Chase Bank between December and May 2011, which at two separate times during her employment reported shortages of cash, according to the complaint. One of those shortages Edwards allegedly admitted to, saying she stole $19,502 and tried to hide it by replacing $100 bills with $1 bills. She said she would pay the money back and did return some of it, according the complaint; in early May, she was fired.
A U.S. District judge set a date for a hearing next week in the case. The U.S. government is hoping to keep Edwards locked up because she is seen as a flight risk and "a danger to the community."
(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
