Three days after parole, Arlington Heights man charged in bank heist
Just three days after being paroled, an Arlington Heights man with a lengthy criminal record dating back to the mid 1980s walked into a Rolling Meadows bank last week and robbed it of more than $7,000, authorities say.
Alexander Stover, 58, is back behind bars facing a federal bank robbery charge stemming from the holdup Thursday of a TCF Bank branch in Rolling Meadows, according to U.S. District Court records.
Stover, whose had been living at an apartment in the 300 block of North Salem Avenue, was arrested Friday after an Arlington Heights police detective who knew him from several previous arrests recognized him in a surveillance photo of the heist suspect, federal authorities say.
“The detective was familiar with the appearance of Stover, as the Arlington Heights Police Department had arrested Stover on numerous prior occasions,” FBI Special Agent Chad Piontek states in an affidavit.
A teller from the bank at 1415 Algonquin Road later identified Stover as the robber from a photo lineup, Piontek wrote.
Authorities say the robbery occurred about 4:11 p.m. Thursday when a man approached a bank teller and presented a note on a white cocktail napkin reading “Don't talk.” The teller realized it was a robbery and did not read the rest of the note.
“The subject then spoke words for the effect of ‘Do not talk. Come on, let's go. Both drawers and nothing fake,'” according to the affidavit. “The subject then reached into his jacket, across his body, causing (the teller) to fear that he was reaching for a weapon. The subject removed a white plastic bag from inside his jacket and placed it on the counter.”
The teller put $7,262 on the counter or in the bag, and the man left, according to court records.
The next day, a detective from Arlington Heights contacted Rolling Meadows police saying he recognized the robber from a still image taken from a bank surveillance camera, authorities said.
Piontek and officers from Arlington Heights and Rolling Meadows went to the North Salem Avenue apartment. Stover was not there when police arrived, but someone in the apartment who identified herself as a friend said he had been there and left belongings. Officers noticed sunglasses similar to those the robber wore in the surveillance video, according to the affidavit.
About three hours later police returned to the apartment and found Stover there wearing some of the same clothing seen in the video, court documents state. Officers also found $3,685 in a purse that a woman said had been a gift from Stover.
Rolling Meadows Police Chief Dave Scanlan said his department sent notice with pictures of the robbery suspect to all law enforcement agencies in Northern Illinois.
“We were lucky that the Arlington Heights detective called us right way,” said Scanlan.
Illinois Department of Corrections records show Stover has been sentenced to prison in 34 separate criminal cases, dating back to 1985 and most recently in October 2010. In the latest case, for which he received a one-year term, Stover was charged with felony criminal damage to property for using a handicap parking sign to smash the window of a Palatine business.
Other offenses range from retail theft and burglary to aggravated battery and bringing contraband into a penal institution, records show.
He was arrested at least a dozen times in Arlington Heights alone, said police Capt. Nicholas Pecora, although he was not aware of any previous bank robbery charges.
Stover, who is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a detention hearing. If convicted of the bank robbery charge, he could face up to 20 years in prison.