A fugitive from Florida tried to rob a West Loop bank and then hid inside a laundry cart at a nearby hotel — with $600 worth of cocaine in his pocket, prosecutors said Friday.
Stanley Williams, 32, allegedly walked into Bank of America, 105 North Halsted, around 12:30 p.m. and handed a note to the teller: “Take your time and give me everything out of both registers before I blow this place up.”
Prosecutors said Williams also told the teller, “don’t push the button. Don’t say anything. I’ll blow this place up. Give me all the money at the bottom of the drawer.”
Instead, the teller activated a silent alarm and ran into a secured area.
Police allegedly spotted Williams as he fled from the bank. With help from a police helicopter and other units, cops found him hiding inside a hotel laundry cart on the 100 block of North Green, according to a CPD report.
He admitted that he wrote the bank hold-up note, prosecutors said. And he was allegedly carrying 4.9 grams of cocaine when cops took him into custody.
Prosecutors, who charged him with robbery of a financial institution and possession of a controlled substance, said he has active arrest warrants from Broward County, Florida, for extortion and cocaine charges. He has previous convictions in Florida for burglary, grand theft, and manufacture-delivery of cannabis.
An assistant public defender told Judge Kelly McCarthy that Williams is homeless.
McCarthy set bail at $150,000 for the robbery and cocaine charges. Williams must post 10% of that to get out of jail on electronic monitoring. She also ordered him held without bail on the Florida warrants.