Bail set in Prospect Heights robbery case

Cook County Judge Kay Hanlon set bail at $200,000 Thursday for a Chicago man charged with armed robbery after prosecutors say he stole a debit card from a Prospect Heights bank employee last week and then robbed at gunpoint the cabdriver who transported him from the suburb into Chicago.

Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Cotter said Antonio Crawford entered the Village Bank and Trust about 4:40 p.m. July 19 and presented a note to a manager demanding money. He lifted his shirt to reveal a firearm in his waistband, Cotter said. After learning from the employee that money was secured in a vault at night, Crawford took the employee’s debit card and fled in a taxi waiting nearby, Cotter said.

Authorities say Crawford later robbed the driver at gunpoint and fled, leaving ID behind in the cab. Chicago police charged him with armed robbery. His bail in that case was set at $250,000.

Prosecutors said Crawford’s criminal background includes a 2008 conviction for burglary in California. Earlier reports indicated he has been charged with a July 12 bank robbery in Matteson.

He next appears in a Rolling Meadows courtroom on Aug. 18.