Sun-Times Media Wire
CHICAGO — A man suspected of robbing the same downtown bank three times was arrested Tuesday after a bank employee saw him outside the lending institution, apparently preparing for a fourth attempt.
Randolph Nathaniel Walker, 59, believed to be a Pittsburgh, Pa., native, was charged in a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court with one count of bank robbery, according to the FBI.
Walker was accused of taking $4,000 on May 10 from the TCF Bank branch at 120 S. Riverside Plaza.
Because the branch has been robbed three times by the same person in the last month and there were clear surveillance photos of the suspect, employees and a manager were confident they could identify the robber if they saw him again, according to the complaint.
They got the chance about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday when a teller asked aloud of other bank employees, “Is that the guy?”
The bank manager told employees to call 911 and activate the silent alarm. He then walked outside to keep an eye on the man as the bank security guard locked the entrance to the bank.
As the manager watched, he saw the suspect try to enter the bank, remaining at the front door for two to three minutes before leaving the area, the complaint said.
The manager followed the man discreetly for several blocks, and as he approached the Chicago Board of Trade building at 141 W. Jackson, he sought the assistance of CBOT employees, who contacted an off-duty Chicago Police officer working security.
When the off-duty officer arrived, the manager asked him to “stop the guy in the red shirt.” The officer detained the man, and other officers arrived and arrested Walker.
As the officers read Walker his rights, he allegedly told them, “You all wouldn’t of caught me if I took off my red shirt, dammit. My only mistake was keeping on this red shirt.”
He also is suspected of robbing the Fifth Third Bank branch at 233 S. Wacker Dr. on June 14.
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