A suburban Chicago man faces bank robbery charges after he allegedly entered a bank without a disguise, left, then returned wearing fake dreadlocks to rob the place a while later.
Officials say a teller at PNC Bank, 850 Summit Street in Elgin, remembered a man who demanded change from him while wearing a construction vest about two hours before the branch was robbed.
At around 1:45 p.m. on August 15, a similarly-built man entered the bank wearing an identical construction vest, baseball hat, and a new set of flowing, fake dreadlocks.
He slid a note to the teller, stating something to the effect of “Give me all the money. I have a gun, or I’ll kill you,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit to support criminal charges against Devonte Eaton.
The teller handed over all of their $20, $10, $5, and $1 bills to the robber, a total of about $6,004, and he walked out the door with it, the agent wrote.
When the cops arrived, the second teller told them about the man who came in asking for change earlier in the day. Police pulled bank surveillance images of that man and compared him to the robber.
The resemblance was strong.
Investigators reviewed active arrest warrants for Elgin residents and found a picture of Eaton. The agent noted his unusual facial hairstyle, which appeared similar to that of the man who asked for change two hours before the robbery.
When the FBI executed a search warrant at Eaton’s home on Tuesday, agents found a dreadlock wig, hat, shoes, sweats, and a t-shirt that looked similar to the bank robber’s, according to the agent. Eaton allegedly told the investigators that he borrowed the construction vest from a friend and no longer had it.
The agent said the search warrant also uncovered a handgun with a high-capacity drum magazine in Eaton’s home.
On a TV stand in Eaton’s bedroom, cops found a piece of paper with a handwritten tally of various cash denominations totaling $5,860.
He is charged with bank robbery.
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