Robber who escaped custody still on the loose

An Elk Grove Village convict who once vowed he would do anything - "crawl if I have to" - to avoid ever going back to prison remained the subject of a massive suburban manhunt Thursday night.

Robert R. Maday, 39, escaped Thursday morning from two Cook County state's attorney's officers who were driving him to the Rolling Meadows courthouse to be sentenced for four aggravated robberies in Schaumburg.

Maday, 39, who was released from a Pennsylvania prison in 2003 after 12 years, was expected to be given 13 years for the Schaumburg robberies, which he committed with a toy gun.

Instead, he disarmed the officers, shed his shackles and escaped into Rolling Meadows, leaving the officers handcuffed in their squad car and triggering a manhunt that involved at least a dozen agencies.

Ralph DeWitt, chief of investigations in the Cook County state's attorney's office, said Maday was handcuffed hand and foot in the back seat of the unmarked squad car taking him to Rolling Meadows from Kankakee County.

He was being housed in Kankakee as a federal prisoner on unrelated bank robbery charges.

The car did not have a cage, and DeWitt said protocol called for one officer to drive and another to ride in the back seat with Maday. Somewhere near the end of the journey, DeWitt said Maday was able to overpower the officer in the back seat and take his gun. Threatening to kill them both, Maday forced the officer to remove the handcuffs, and he got the other officer's gun.

The car exited the tollway at or near Rolling Meadows and parked in the Meijer store lot at Golf and Algonquin roads.

There, Maday abandoned his orange prison pants and donned pants and shoes that belonged to one of the officers, DeWitt said. He then handcuffed the officers in the car and left them locked inside, uninjured.

The officers, however, had a hidden handcuff key. They freed themselves quickly and called 911 at about 9:45 a.m., DeWitt said.

Maday, meanwhile, had gone inside Meijer where he bought water and possibly some clothes, said Sally Daly, director of communications for the state's attorney's office.

When Maday came out, he pulled a gun on a woman in the parking lot, who surrendered her car. When he couldn't get the car started, he ordered the woman back inside to start it for him, Rolling Meadows Deputy Police Chief Dave Scanlan said.

Maday drove away, leaving the woman uninjured, Scanlan said.

Police say Maday abandoned the car on the 300 block of Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights and from that point moved on foot, as far as they know.

He reportedly was spotted on the 2100 block of Goebbert Road, and dogs were brought in to help search.

Police from all around the suburbs came to Arlington Heights, making the Wellington Restaurant their staging area. By midafternoon they narrowed their focus to one apartment building on the 2300 block of Goebbert Road, where they thought there was a strong chance Maday had holed up.

Dozens of law enforcement personnel, some with rifles and dogs, searched the Ashton Condominium complex north and east of Algonquin Road and Tonne Drive, while a growing crowd of residents, friends of residents and onlookers gathered nearby.

But by shortly after 5 p.m. police determined he was not inside, and Thursday evening the search spread out across the suburbs with individual police departments chasing down their own leads, Scanlan said.

That included searching areas where relatives and associates may live, said Capt. Richard Niedrich of the Arlington Heights Police Department.

Police said Thursday they have been getting some tips from citizens, including possible sightings in Bloomingdale and near Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, but none panned out.

Maday is described as about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, white, bald, with a slender build and last seen wearing a light T-shirt and black Dockers pants.

Police are continuing to urge public caution as Maday is thought to have the two handguns still in his possession.

Maday's last address was a condo unit on the 500 block of Biesterfield Road in Elk Grove Village. He lived there for more than a year before his December 2008 arrest, neighbors said.

The unit, which police said is empty, is owned by his mother, and his brother lives nearby. Police were at the condo complex Thursday to question neighbors.

Meanwhile, residents of the apartment building on Goebbert were relieved Thursday afternoon they could return to their homes after hours of waiting, yet upset at the lack of information from police.

"I don't know what's going on," said Carmela Garcia, 24, who said an officer stopped her from going into her building by saying, "Get out of here - do you want to get shot?"

Many schools and businesses in the Northwest suburbs locked their doors for the better part of the day, and Northwest Suburban High School District 214 canceled its school board meeting Thursday night at the Forest View Education Center.

DeWitt, meanwhile, called Thursday's event a "horrendous" experience for the state's attorney's officers.

The state attorney's office is responsible for transporting federal prisoners when they go to state court.

One of the officers is a retired Chicago police officer, according to Daly. One started with the state's attorney's office in 1994, the other in 1997, she said. They have transported hundreds of suspects.

Maday is a federal prisoner because he pleaded guilty to six bank robberies and one attempted bank robbery in the Northwest suburbs - Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights, Huntley, Lake Zurich and Bloomingdale - in late 2008.

A plea deal was signed last month that would have put him in a federal prison for 12-15 years, in addition to his state sentence.

The U.S. Marshal's office said Thursday night it considers Maday "extremely, extremely dangerous" and says it is offering a "substantial award for information leading to his capture. Their tip line is (888) 869-4590.

• Staff writers Eric Peterson and Kevin Kovanich contributed to this report.

504335Police have an apartment building surrounded on Golf Road looking for escaped Robert R. Maday.Jeff Knox | Staff Photographer 512411Police from several area departments surround an apartment building in Arlington Heights.Courtesy Robert Gonke 512340Police surround an apartment building behind a Japanese supermarket on Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights looking for a prisoner who escaped from two investigators Thursday.George LeClaire | Staff Photographer 409512A detective, in the northwest parking lot of Meijer on Golf Road, was transporting a prisoner and was forced to give up his clothes and then put on the prisoner's orange prison pants. The man took the detective's shoes.George LeClaire | Staff Photographer 403512Police from several area departments surround an apartment building in Arlington Heights.Courtesy Robert Gonke 512345A detective wearing orange pants and no shoes talks with police in a parking lot of Meijer on Golf Road in Rolling Meadows after a man in court custody escaped with two weapons and forced one of the investigators to switch clothes with him.George LeClaire | Staff Photographer 512332Police from several area departments surround an apartment building in Arlington Heights where they believe escaped robber Robert Maday is after escaping from custody.Jeff Knox | Staff Photographer 453512Authorities document the scene in Meijer parking lot on Golf Road.George LeClaire | Staff Photographer 512306Police from several area departments surround an apartment building in Arlington Heights where they believe escaped robber Robert Maday is after escaping from custody.Jeff Knox | Staff Photographer 171182Robert R. Maday 459512Police from several area departments surround an apartment building in Arlington Heights where they believe escaped robber Robert Maday is after escaping from custody.Jeff Knox | Staff Photographer <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=9&type=video&item=405">Police manhunt in Arlington Heights </a></li> </ul> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=322287">Images from the manhunt for Robert Maday </a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=322340">'06 Web postings appear to be from Maday <span class="date">[09/17/09]</span> </a></li> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=322229">Apartment complex residents fearful for safety of relatives, friends <span class="date">[09/17/09]</span> </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=322239">Dist. 214 cancels board meeting, classes at Forest View <span class="date">[09/17/09]</span> </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=322175">Traffic violations led to arrest of serial robber <span class="date">[09/17/09]</span> </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=263268">Man charged in Huntley bank robbery <span class="date">[01/09/09]</span></a></li> </ul> <h2>Audio</h2> <ul class="audio"> <li><a href="/audio/ahsearch.mp3">Arlington Heights community alert phone call </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>