An Illinois man allegedly robbed a bank last month wearing fake dreadlocks, but he apparently didn’t think about his disguise all the way through, because police quickly identified him based on similar clothing he wore in a previous visit.
Around 1:45 p.m. on August 15, the man entered PNC Bank in the Chicago suburb of Elgin wearing a dark shirt, bright construction vest and dark baseball hat atop a set of dreadlocks.
The man handed a note to a teller that read something along the lines of “Give me all the money, I have a gun, or I’ll kill you,” according to court documents reviewed by CrimeOnline.
He allegedly added at one point: “Hurry up, give me all the hundreds you have.”
In response, the teller provided the man with about $6,000 in $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills. The man, who was also wearing sunglasses and a black surgical mask, then ran out of the front door.
After police arrived, a second teller reported that about two hours before the robbery, a man who was also wearing a bright construction vest had entered the bank demanding change, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators pulled security camera footage, which revealed a similarly built man without dreadlocks, sunglasses or mask. But he was wearing a dark shirt, dark baseball cap, and, just as the second teller recalled, a bright construction vest.
Police then reviewed images of area residents with active arrest warrants and came upon a photograph of 30-year-old Devonte M. Eaton, who appeared to match the man recorded by the bank’s security cameras.
On Tuesday, federal agents executed a search warrant at Eaton’s apartment, where they found a dreadlock wig, in addition to a shirt, hat, shoes and pants that appeared similar to what the robbery suspect wore.
When asked about the vest, Eaton allegedly told police he had borrowed it from a friend and no longer had it.
But Eaton did admit to the robbery, according to prosecutors.
“Initially, EATON denied that he was the robbery subject in the PNC Bank photo, but subsequently EATON admitted he was the subject in the robbery photo,” the criminal complaint reads.
Investigators found a piece of paper on Eaton’s bedroom TV stand that contained an apparent handwritten accounting of cash totaling $5,860. A handgun with a high-capacity magazine was also found at Eaton’s residence.
Eaton has been charged in federal court with bank robbery, according to the Elgin Police Department.
He remains in custody and is scheduled to return to court on September 6.
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[Feature Photo: Devonte M. Eaton/U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois]
