Skokie bank robbery suspect ran into Walmart to change clothes

An Evanston man charged with robbing a bank Thursday morning in north suburban Skokie allegedly ran into a nearby Walmart after the heist to change his clothes.

Jerry Jason Williams, 42, walked into the PNC Bank branch at 3636 Touhy Ave. at 10:23 a.m., according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court charging Williams with bank robbery.

He approached a teller and handed him a note that read “THIS IS A ROBBERY GIVE ME 1000 IN LARGE BILLS PRONTO,” prosecutors said. The teller then handed him $285 in cash from the drawer, including two $100 bills.

Williams then left the bank and ran northeast toward the parking lot of a nearby Walmart, according to the complaint and a statement from Skokie police.

Surveillance footage showed Williams entering the store about 10:30 a.m., entering a restroom and later exiting the restroom wearing different clothes, prosecutors said. Detectives found him in the store’s dairy section pushing a cart containing a pair of women’s shoes.

Police took Williams into custody and found the $285 taken from the bank on his person, according to the criminal complaint. They then took him back to the bank, where a teller identified him as the robber.

Williams previously pleaded guilty to three counts of bank robbery on June 7, 2006, according to prosecutors. He was sentenced to 151 months in prison and a term of supervised release for those charges.

Williams, who lives in Evanston, appeared in federal court on Friday afternoon and was ordered detained, according to FBI spokesman Garrett Croon.

He is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records.