Police say Rolling Meadows man tied to “hooded bandit” bank robberies
Wood Dale police say they've captured a Rolling Meadows man who authorities believe is the “hooded bandit” suspected of robbing as many as nine suburban banks since July 2011.
Edward Klich, 62, of the 3200 block of Peacock Lane, was charged in federal court Friday with armed robbery. Authorities said they believe he eventually will be charged with numerous other bank robberies.
Wood Dale Police Chief Greg Vesta said Klich was apprehended around noon Thursday, just minutes after authorities said he robbed the US Bank at Irving Park Road and Central.
“We got a call that the armed robbery had just occurred and dispatch got it out right away,” Vesta said. “We had officers in the area and they quickly established a perimeter. Two blocks from the scene an officer observed an older man driving a car that matched our description, so we performed a traffic stop on him.”
The FBI said the car was a green 1995 Buick LeSabre. It said officers were aware that a 1990s Buick was the car used in other recent suburban robberies. Klich told police the car was his wife's, the FBI said.
Vesta said Klich, after a short pursuit, exited the car and “came after” the officer.
“At that point there were concerns about what he was armed with and what he had in his hand,” Vesta said. “He was taken down with the Taser. Fortunately it didn't end up in a loss of life because in those 20 seconds it could have gone either way.”
At the time of his arrest, Klich was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a scarf covering the lower half of his face, Vesta said. No weapon was discovered.
“I'm very pleased that we can tell these bank employees that the guy who has been traumatizing them for the last year and a half is behind bars,” Vesta said. “A bank robbery is a horrible, traumatic experience that no one should have to face.”
A complaint filed by the FBI says Klich was carrying a pen wrapped in a dark hood when he approached the officer who stopped him. The complaint also says Klich admitted approaching the officer and admitted robbing the Wood Dale bank Thursday.
The FBI complaint says both a bank teller and Klich himself said Klich told the teller that another person was with him, but another person was not in Klick's car when he was stopped. The teller also said the robber said, “You'll see me again,” according to the complaint.
The complaint said the teller recognized the robber as the one who robbed the same bank, then a Charter One, in November 2013.
The FBI complaint said the bank determined $2,354 was stolen, and agents found $1,874 in the car.
Before Thursday's heist, Klich is believed to have robbed the First Merit Bank, 900 E. Higgins Road, Elk Grove Village, at 10:45 a.m. Sept. 3, authorities said.
The FBI said Klich has admitted to that robbery and robberies at a Chase bank in Rolling Meadows in 2011, a BMO Harris Bank in Wood Dale in February 2013, at Charter One Bank in Rolling Meadows in April 2013 and December 2013, a Charter One Bank in Wood Dale in November 2013, a Chase Bank in Bensenville in December 2013, and another Chase Bank in Bensenville in April 2014.
ABC 7 Chicago reports that Klich was convicted in the 1990s of stealing money from his previous employer, a branch of the U.S. Postal Service near O'Hare where he was a window clerk, and has been under a court order to pay it back.
He was charged with embezzling money from the post office and pleaded guilty in 2002 to misappropriation of postal funds. He was ordered to pay the postal service more than $122,000 in restitution.
After getting out of federal prison, Klich apparently worked and repaid some of the money, but he still owes more than $80,000, ABC 7 reports.
• ABC 7 Chicago contributed to this report.