CHICAGO — A 16-time convicted felon who received a two-year sentence for burglarizing three Uptown restaurants in 2022 has been sentenced to three more years in prison for—you guessed it—burglarizing an Uptown restaurant while on parole in 2023.
Banks pleaded guilty on Monday to stealing $100 during a burglary of Dong Ky restaurant and bakery, 4877 North Broadway, on December 2, 2023, according to court records. Prosecutors said he left a briefcase at the crime scene containing personal records, including utility bills.
Banks has the not-so-unusual experience of receiving more lenient sentences for every crime he commits.
He received a whopping 14-year sentence for burglarizing an Uptown restaurant in 2011. He got out of prison in May 2018, and just seven months later, prosecutors charged him with burglarizing Little India restaurant, 1109 West Bryn Mawr. Court records show Banks fought the case for nearly three years, serving as his own attorney for at least some of the time. Prosecutors dropped the case on January 6, 2022.
The very next month, prosecutors said video showed him committing three more burglaries. He was convicted of criminal damage to property, received a two-year sentence, and served no prison time after receiving credits. He was on parole for those cases at the time of the burglary he just pleaded guilty to.
Before catching the 14-year sentence in 2011, Banks had been sentenced to two terms of 30 months for theft in 2009, 18 months for damage to school property in 2009, three years for narcotics in 2007, two years for drugs in 2005, 4-1/2 years for theft from a person in 2002; four years for burglary in 1999; seven years for narcotics in 1996; 28 months for drugs in 1995; and five years for narcotics in 1992, according to IDOC.
In addition to the burglary, Banks pleaded guilty on Monday to an unrelated robbery case. Judge Timothy Joyce gave him a one-year sentence for that, to be served concurrently with the burglary term. With the state’s 50% good behavior discount and credit for time spent in jail, Banks should be out of prison in about six months.
