Feds: Bank robber ran into Chicago River with tracking device

SHARE Feds: Bank robber ran into Chicago River with tracking device
bankrob1.png

Surveillance image of the man who robbed a Bank of America branch Dec. 14 at 6665 N. Northwest Highway. Daniel Torres has since been charged with the robbery. | FBI

A Berwyn man is charged with robbing a Northwest Side bank Thursday before crashing an SUV and running into the Chicago River with a tracking device while fleeing police.

Daniel Torres, 30, entered the Bank of America branch at 6665 N. Northwest Highway shortly before 5 p.m. wearing a black winter jacket and hat, black gloves and a scarf covering his face, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court. He stood by the deposit slip counter for a few minutes before approaching a teller, taking off one of his gloves and handing over a note demanding money.

The note read, “You Are being Robbed, Please be Silent. I have A Gun I only want is bundles of 100, 50, 20’s only. I know you have a Second drawer. Please only bundles of 100, 50, 20’s. Don’t Press alarm,” according to court records.

The teller then began pressing the button to activate the silent alarm and continued to press it throughout the robbery, prosecutors said. Torres verbally demanded money and said that he had a weapon, at which point the employee complied and gave him cash.

When Torres demanded more money, the teller grabbed a tracker and a stack of $20 bills and handed it to Torres, who took the stack and exited the bank, prosecutors said. The total loss from the robbery was $1,351.

FBI agents were able to monitor the location of the tracking device and provide live location information to Chicago Police, prosecutors said. Police located Torres, who matched the description of the robber, driving a white Acura SUV in the vicinity of the tracking device.

When officers tried to pull the SUV over, Torres drove away, leading police on a chase until he drove onto a forest preserve bike path in the 6700 block of West Touhy and crashed the SUV, according to the complaint. Torres then got out and ran into the North Branch of the Chicago River and tried, unsuccessfully, to cross it.

He eventually returned to the west bank of the river, where he was taken into custody about 5:15 p.m., prosecutors said. The teller to whom he’d handed the note positively identified Torres as the robber.

Included in the criminal complaint was a map provided to authorities by a tracking company, which shows the path of the tracking device from the bank to the location along the river where Torres was arrested.

Torres, who lives in Berwyn, has been charged with bank robbery by intimidation, according to the FBI. He appeared in court Friday and was ordered held in custody, but his next court date was not immediately known.

This map shows the path of a tracking device taken during a bank robbery Dec. 14 at a Bank of America branch at 6665 N. Northwest Highway. | FBI

This map shows the path of a tracking device taken during a bank robbery Dec. 14 at a Bank of America branch at 6665 N. Northwest Highway. | FBI

The Latest
The acquisition of Tamarack Farms makes Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge a more impactful destination and creates within Hackmatack a major macrosite for conservation.
The man was found unresponsive in an alley in the 10700 block of South Lowe Avenue, police said.
The man suffered head trauma and was pronounced dead at University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
Another federal judge in Chicago who also has dismissed gun cases based on the same Supreme Court ruling says the high court’s decision in what’s known as the Bruen case will “inevitably lead to more gun violence, more dead citizens and more devastated communities.”
Women make up just 10% of those in careers such as green infrastructure and clean and renewable energy, a leader from Openlands writes. Apprenticeships and other training opportunities are some of the ways to get more women into this growing job sector.