Former employee charged with robbing Lake View bank of more than $126K

A Chicago woman was charged with robbing a bank she used to work at of more than $126,000 Thursday morning in the North Side Lake View neighborhood.

At 9:36 a.m., 24-year-old Latasha Gamble walked up to a teller’s window at the Chase Bank branch at 3956 N. Sheridan Road and asked to speak to a banker, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. After a banker walked into the lobby, Gamble asked for help locating her glasses, but left after she couldn’t find them.

Minutes later, Gamble returned to the bank and sat down in the lobby before walking up to the teller’s window, prosecutors said. After telling Gamble to sit down and wait, the teller said she kept an eye on her because something “felt off.”

Gamble returned to the window as the banker was walking to the secure area in the back of the bank, prosecutors said. At that point, Gamble told the teller she needed to show the banker some documents.

Gamble then pulled a handgun out of her bag and pointed it at the banker, demanding they open the vault, prosecutors said. After the banker told her it required dual control, Gamble pulled the teller by the hair toward the vault.

As the banker entered a security code to open the vault, Gamble pointed the gun at the back of the teller’s head, prosecutors said. After the teller initially entered the wrong code, both employees re-entered their codes and the vault opened.

While taking money from inside the vault, Gamble warned that she would shoot the employees if they looked at her, prosecutors said. She spent three minutes loading roughly $126,520 into a bag before leaving the bank.

Both employees positively identified Gamble, a former co-worker, as the robber, prosecutors said. Chase confirmed that she was still employed at another branch at the time of the robbery.

At 2:18 p.m. Thursday, police took Gamble into custody at the branch, prosecutors said. After initially denying that she robbed the bank, Gamble admitted to the heist, providing details that weren’t known to the public.

Gamble had her initial appearance Monday in federal court and was ordered detained by the judge.