Man charged with stealing $60 from Burbank bank

A Chicago man is accused of stealing $60 during a bank robbery Thursday evening in south suburban Burbank.

Christopher Lanham, 50, was charged with one count of bank robbery by intimidation, according to FBI spokeswoman Special Agent Janine Wheeler.

The robbery occurred about 6:15 p.m. at the TCF Bank branch inside the Jewel-Osco store at 7910 S. Cicero Ave. in Burbank, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

Lanham approached a teller and asked to make a deposit before showing her a note that read, “Give me $5,000 now, I have a gun or I will kill you,” prosecutors said.

The teller put $60 in cash into an envelope along with a tracking device, “which was hidden in what appeared to be an additional $80 in currency,” according to court documents. She gave Lanham the envelope and he ran toward the door.

A witness told officers that he’d seen someone get out of a Dumpster near the store a short time later and start running northeast, prosecutors said. Officers searched the dumpster and found the broken tracker, a torn $20 bill and the clothing worn by the robber.

An Orland Park police officer on a task force assisting the FBI saw surveillance photos from the robbery and recognized Lanham from a previous arrest for retail theft, according to prosecutors. The bank teller positively identified him in a photo lineup.

Lanham was arrested by Chicago Police officers later that evening in the 6800 block of South Malewood, police said. During an interview with the FBI, he identified himself in the surveillance photos and admitted to the robbery.

He was ordered detained after his first appearance in federal court on Friday, according to the FBI.