Two men charged with string of suburban bank robberies

Two men are facing federal bank robbery charges for a string of heists at suburban branches in 2021 and 2022.

Charles Lawler, 53, of Villa Park and Tarandle Lee, 44, of Bolingbrook, are accused of carrying out four bank robberies together, and Lawler is facing charges in a fifth robbery that prosecutors claim he perpetrated on his own.

Lawler is accused of robbing a BMO Harris branch in Naperville on Sept. 28, 2021. Both are accused of staging another robbery at the Old Second Bank branch in Lisle later that day.

The pair also is accused of bank robberies in Westmont, Woodridge and Downers Grove over seven months between October 2021 and April 2022.

Lee was arrested shortly after the Downers Grove robbery in 2022. Federal prosecutors did not say when Lawler was arrested.

Prosecutors are also seeking forfeiture of nearly $30,000.