CHICAGO — The man who robbed a Jefferson Park bank may have used an Uber as his getaway car, according to the FBI. Federal prosecutors say Chicago cops found clothing identical to the robber’s, along with the bank’s money and GPS tracker, in the car’s back seat, along with the alleged robber, Daniel Rodriguez.
Around 9:15 a.m. on December 16, a man walked up to a teller at Huntington Bank, 4930 North Milwaukee, and asked if he could open an account, an FBI agent said in an affidavit filed against Rodriguez.
The teller told the robber he’d need ID, and the man handed over a note written on a piece of cardboard: “This is a robbery.”
With that, the teller placed a stack of cash containing a GPS tracker on the counter. The robber scooped it up and fled.
A CPD sergeant followed pings from the tracker and pulled over a car moving in tandem with the GPS pings. Rodriguez was sitting in the back seat.
The driver told police he was an Uber driver and had given Rodriguez a ride the day before. During that ride, the driver and Rodriguez made arrangements outside of the app for another ride on the morning of the robbery, according to the FBI affidavit.
He told investigators that he picked Rodriguez up before the robbery and drove him to an apartment building near the bank because Rodriguez had to get money that someone owed him. Rodriguez returned about ten minutes later and said he “wanted to go near a highway,” the affidavit stated.
The driver pulled over a few minutes later when the police activated their blue lights behind him.
Investigators found $3,880 in cash inside a jacket on the car’s rear floorboard, along with a Pittsburgh Pirate’s hat and a gray hoodie similar to the robbery’s outfit. The FBI agent noted that, like the bank robber, Rodriguez wore black pants ripped at the knees.
Federal officials “continue to investigate the veracity of the driver’s claim that he was just an Uber driver,” the affidavit said.
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