A 24-year-old first-time bank robber who managed to fumble nearly every part of his getaway, including spilling the cash he had just stolen while running through the Loop, has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison.
Solomon Marshall first entered Fifth Third Bank at 1 South Wacker Drive on the morning of March 12, 2024, and asked a teller whether there were any smaller branches nearby. The teller found the question unusual and alerted other branches in the area about a potential robbery. About an hour later, Marshall returned carrying a brown Potbelly’s paper bag. He approached the same teller and handed over a note written on a napkin.
“Put your hands on your chest, walk over and have [sic] fill the bag with money. You have three minutes. No one gets hurt.”
The teller complied, placing $776 into the bag. Marshall grabbed the money and sprinted from the bank, beginning a getaway that quickly unraveled.
As he ran through a nearby alley, he removed his mask, gloves, hat, and jacket and stuffed them into the Potbelly’s bag, prosecutors said. In the process, some of the stolen money spilled onto the ground. Surveillance cameras captured Marshall stopping to retrieve the dropped cash before continuing his sprint toward the CTA.
Meanwhile, Chicago police surveillance officers were already sifting through the city’s vast network of transit security cameras in search of the robber. It didn’t take long for them to find Marshall. Police watched as Marshall jumped a turnstile at the Washington-Wells station and boarded a Brown Line train. Camera operators kept an eye on him as he transferred to a Blue Line train at the Clark-Lake station near the Thompson Center. Using real-time CTA camera feeds, police continued monitoring Marshall’s movements as he headed west.
Officers eventually intercepted him at the Illinois Medical District Blue Line station, where he was still carrying the Potbelly’s bag with $776 stuffed inside, along with the clothing he had discarded during his flight, prosecutors said.
Marshall pleaded not guilty and took the case to trial in October, but his defense attorney argued that Marshall did not dispute taking the money. Rather, he challenged whether his conduct met the federal definition of bank robbery “by intimidation.” The defense maintained that the case presented a legal question regarding the nature of the note rather than a dispute over responsibility for the crime itself. The jury convicted him.
Federal prosecutors sought a sentence of 41 months, the low end of the applicable guideline range, while the defense asked for 27 months, citing Marshall’s lack of prior convictions.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge John Blakey sentenced Marshall to 40 months in prison and ordered him to pay $776 in restitution, according to court records.
Marshall’s legal problems aren’t over. Court records show he also faces active detainers and pending criminal cases in Indiana, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Ohio. He is additionally wanted in DuPage County on an aggravated robbery warrant.
