Suspect in Buffalo Grove bank heist in court
One of the two suspects in a violent weekend bank robbery in Buffalo Grove appeared in federal court Monday, where he was ordered held pending a bond hearing.
Benyusef Hicks, 35, and Shon Williams, 40, both of Chicago, were each charged with one count of bank robbery. Hicks appeared in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin C. Ashman Monday morning, who ordered him held until a hearing at 11 a.m. Friday on whether to set bail.
Williams was unable to appear as he remains hospitalized from a car crash after the robbery.
The robbery, at National City Band, 1177 Lake-Cook Road, began at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The FBI said the gun-wielding, ski-masked bandits bound the hands of seven victims inside the bank before fleeing with $11,897.
The FBI report tells a frightening story. It says Hicks and Williams entered the bank holding handguns and ordered employees and customers to the floor. They used plastic ties to bind the hands of the victims.
According to the criminal complaint filed Monday, one of the robbers grabbed a woman customer, put a gun to her stomach and threw her to the floor. The report said he also threw down the teller who was helping her; and when the employee looked up he put a gun to her neck until she put her face back down.
Two employees and the customer were bound together, and the robber took about $1,800 that was in the teller's drawer, the FBI recounted. A total of about $11,900 in cash was taken from the bank.
Ross Rice, spokesman for the FBI, said in an interview Sunday that someone inside the bank was beaten and had to be hospitalized. However, it is unclear in the criminal complaint who that was.
The FBI said a customer who was dropped off by her boyfriend walked into the bank as the robbery was under way. When she entered, she saw one of the robbers in a ski mask and dark, knee-length coat pointing a gun at her. She was told to get on the floor, but was not bound. Soon after the robbers left, the woman called police from her cell phone.
Meanwhile, her boyfriend, who was waiting outside in a car, saw the robbers leaving the bank. The two had removed their ski masks and the witness was able to provide a description of the men and their car, a dark-colored Lexus with Indiana license plates.
The Buffalo Grove police sent out an alert with that information, and an officer with the Illinois State Police saw the Lexus a short while later going east on the Eisenhower Expressway. That officer, joined by a Broadview police car, followed the Lexus and tried to make a traffic stop, but the Lexus sped away and made an illegal U-turn on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Authorities say the chase ended when the Lexus ran a red light at 18th Street and Racine Avenue and crashed into a Chicago police car. An officer in the car was injured in the crash and hospitalized. No updates on the officer's condition were available Monday.
Hicks and Williams were arrested at the scene. Both were hospitalized for crash-related injuries.
According to the FBI, Hicks told investigators he threw both guns out of the car during the pursuit. Both weapons were recovered by police.
Defense attorney Daniel J. Hesler declined to comment.
Terri Wilson, a spokeswoman for National City Bank, said the bank is providing services for the employees and customers involved in the robbery.
"We just want to protect the security of our employees and customers," Wilson said.
The bank reopened as scheduled on Monday, and Wilson said it will be fully staffed this week.
FBI agents said some of the stolen money was in bills that had prerecorded serial numbers.
If convicted, Williams and Hicks face up to 20 years in jail, according to the FBI.