A suburban man faces a federal attempted bank robbery charge after he was outsmarted by three quick-thinking tellers who made him wait eight minutes while they “got approval” to hand him all of the bank’s $100 bills, officials said. Mark A. Sanchez, 23, was arrested around 9:21 a.m. Wednesday inside the Jewel-Osco, 1485 West Palatine Road, in Hoffman Estates.
“It’s me,” he allegedly told officers as they entered the store. “I am the one you are looking for.”
According to an FBI criminal complaint, Sanchez entered the store at about 15 minutes earlier, wearing a long dark wig, glasses, a blue surgical mask, and a puffy jacket, and carrying a blue zippered pouch. He approached the bank counter and told the first teller he needed to “make a withdrawal” and wanted “all your hundreds,” then opened a case and revealed a loaded black semi-automatic handgun, the complaint said.
That teller stalled Sanchez by saying she had to make a call to get someone to release the money, then slipped away to an office, called the bank’s security team and 911. A second teller told Sanchez the branch had no cash and was experiencing technical issues. Sanchez moved on to a third teller and ordered them to open their cash drawer, only to find it empty, the FBI agent’s complaint said.
After waiting nearly eight minutes for someone to approve his request for all of the hundreds, Sanchez grew impatient and walked away through the grocery store, according to the complaint.
Hoffman Estates police arrived shortly thereafter. When officers arrested him, he was still wearing the disguise. Inside the blue zippered pouch, they found a black gun holder containing a loaded semi-automatic handgun with a round already chambered, the complaint said, describing the weapon and an unserialized “ghost gun.”
That afternoon, Sanchez waived his Miranda rights and allegedly admitted he went to the bank intending to rob it, but said he did not intend to hurt anyone.
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