CHICAGO — A North Side man faces federal bank robbery charges for allegedly holding up two banks this month and bragging about it to a friend on Instagram. Chicago police arrested Dylan Pedersen, 22, minutes after he allegedly robbed an Edgewater bank last Thursday, the day after his Instagram buddy gave the FBI copies of their chats, according to a federal complaint.
Pedersen first robbed Chase Bank, 5134 North Clark, by handing the teller a demand note around 1:31 p.m. on April 6, FBI Special Agent Ward Yoder wrote in the complaint. The teller gave him about $410.
“You’ll never believe what happened this week,” Pedersen, using the screen name “Livia Lightning,” allegedly DMed his Instagram friend.
“what happened” came the reply.
“I walked into a bank And I robbed it It was nuts” he replied.
“Lol no way prove it”
Livia Lightning sent a picture, apparently of a robbery note, and admitted that he “only got about 380” after he “gave 50 to a homeless guy.”
Late last Tuesday, the Instagram friend, referred to in Yoder’s complaint only as “Individual A,” called the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center to report that Dylan Pedersen admitted to robbing a bank in an Instagram conversation.
Individual A said Pedersen began messaging them in March, sent a picture of his passport, and mentioned that he lived in Chicago, the FBI complaint said.
The tipster, who asked if they’d get a reward for reporting Pedersen, said they Googled “Chicago bank robberies” after receiving Pedersen’s messages and found his picture, according to the FBI agent. They provided investigators with screenshots of the chats, a robbery note, and Pedersen’s passport the next day.
But before the FBI could finish their investigation, Pedersen allegedly robbed Byline Bank, 5342 North Broadway, the very next day. The teller gave him $1,600 and a GPS tracker, the FBI agent wrote. Chicago cops took him into custody in the 1300 block of West Berwyn a few minutes later.
He had changed clothes, but the threads he wore during the robbery were in his backpack along with the cash and tracker, the complaint said. The robbery note appeared to be the one he shared with Individual A on Instagram.