FBI details attempted Prospect Heights bank robbery
A 21-year-old man who was identified by an ID card left in a cab has admitted to having a loaded handgun when he attempted to rob a Prospect Heights bank last week, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Antonio Crawford was found at his mother's home in Dolton five days after he stole a bank teller's ATM card at Village Bank and Trust on July 19 in a last-ditch effort when he learned all the bank's money was secured in a vault.
Crawford, who had arranged for a cab to meet him a block and a half from the bank at 5 p.m., later robbed the driver at gunpoint on Chicago's West Side and fled, according to a federal complaint filed Tuesday.
The driver found Crawford's name and photo on an ID from a soup kitchen in New York, allowing police to track him to his mother's house.
According to the complaint, Crawford told the Prospect Heights teller he needed to make a deposit and answered a cellphone call while writing the demand note at a table in the bank. Crawford told the caller he was in the bank and made his way to the counter where he found the empty drawers. He then clutched the weapon in his waistband, demanded the teller's wallet and PIN and fled to the waiting taxi near the intersection of Thomas Street and Rand Road, the complaint said.
The Prospect Heights bank robbery was Crawford's second this month, according to authorities.
On July 12, authorities allege, he robbed a Chase Bank in Matteson of $1,000 after handing a teller a note that read, “Listen I got a gun in my short's try anything crazy I will kill u give my the money in your counter and I will go on with my bizzness I'm on the phone If I say yes he will come in and shoot this place up. Thank u.”
The Matteson bank employee told police Crawford was speaking to someone on a cellphone during the robbery and said “She's reading it now,” after handing over the note.
Crawford admitted to all three crimes as well as possessing a loaded 9 mmm Glock semiautomatic handgun during both bank robberies and the taxi holdup, according to the criminal complaint.