CHICAGO — The man who robbed a Loop bank on Thursday afternoon unwittingly grabbed a GPS tracker when he snatched money from a teller’s drawer, an error that would lead to his arrest less than an hour later.
“I did it,” Andrew Garland allegedly told FBI agents later that night. “I f***ed up, but I did it.”
Wearing a neon yellow jacket and purple COVID mask, Garland entered Huntington Bank, 222 North LaSalle, around 4:40 p.m., according to a federal complaint. He approached a teller who had $4,000, packaged in bundles of $2,000 each, in her hand.
“Open the drawer, give me the money,” he allegedly ordered before repeatedly telling the bank worker, “I’m not playing with you.”
Ultimately, the complaint said Garland took the $4,000 from the teller and grabbed another $1,050 from their cash drawer. Unbeknownst to Garland, the $1,050 contained a pre-packaged GPS tracker.
Chicago cops began tracking the device as it moved to the Riverwalk, then into River North, and then back through the Loop, according to a map of its movements included in the complaint.
Investigators eventually found Garland lying in the back seat of a taxicab at 11th and State with cash littered about, officials said.
“I did it,” Garland allegedly told an FBI agent. “I’m sick off drugs, I’ve been up a couple of days. I need some money. I want to get my own place where I can lay my own head.”
