A 30-year-old man was charged with robbing a bank branch Monday afternoon in the Greektown neighborhood after a GPS tracking device hidden in a bundle of stolen cash foiled his getaway.
About 5 p.m., Michael Tyner, of Chicago, walked into the Fifth Third Bank branch at 100 S. Halsted St. and handed a note to a teller demanding money, according to a criminal complaint provided by the FBI.
“Give me large bills,” Tyner told the teller and a coworker. “Don’t give me any dye packs. Don’t press any buttons.”
The tellers then handed over cash from their drawers, the FBI said.
“Hundreds! Hundreds! I need hundreds,” Tyner said after assessing the pile of cash.
One of the tellers then handed over more cash, some of which contained a hidden tracking device, the FBI said. Nevertheless, Tyner continued to demand “more hundreds and fifties.”
After being told there was no more money in the drawers, Tyner took the cash and left the bank without taking his demand note, the FBI said. He then ran off south on Halsted.
Chicago Police responded to the robbery and followed the tracking device to a Blue Line stop between Morgan Park and Peoria, about a half mile from the branch, the FBI said. Officers found Tyner on the platform, at which point he crossed the tracks, jumped over an expressway wall and ran into the eastbound lanes on I-290.
During the chase, Tyner tried unsuccessfully to get into two vehicles that were stopped on I-290 before throwing himself into the cargo bed of a pickup truck, the FBI said. After taking him into custody, officers confirmed his identity and uncovered the tracking device within a bundle of money in his pocket.
A total of $3,240.90 of federally-insured cash was stolen during the robbery, the FBI said.
Tyler remains held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the FBI said. Information about his next scheduled court date wasn’t immediately known.