Nov 2, 2009 10:20 pm US/Central
Cold Case Minute: TCF Bandit
Bill Kurtis
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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The 'TCF Bandit' has been on a three-year rampage robbing 10 banks and escaping every time. If you have any information, call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.
Chicago FBI
He reeks of confidence: passing bank tellers threatening notes, then taking off with cash. His target of choice? TCF banks. CBS 2's Bill Kurtis reports with one cold case that is heating up again.
He is the most-wanted bank robber in the western suburbs. He's been on a three year rampage, hitting 10 banks and escaping every single time. He's bold. He's brazen. And he may be about to strike again.
A surveillance video shows the man strolling down the aisle in Jewel and head toward the adjoining TCF Bank. He approaches the counter and calmly places a note on the teller's desk that will change her life forever.
"This is a robbery", the card simply read. He has a gun and will use it if money isn't put into his pencil bag pronto.
The cash is handed over and the robber is gone as quickly as he arrived, leaving only an empty teller drawer and fast beating heart in his wake.
For over three years in Chicagoland, the MO is the same: 10 robberies, 10 threats of violence, 10 tellers' lives changed forever. And thousands of dollars missing.
Dubbed the 'TCF Bandit' for the banks he frequents, the hold-up artist is brazen to a degree of concern and almost too comfortable with other patrons around.
Agents know with confidence comes danger. The manhunt is ramping up to identify and capture this man.
He is white, 35 to 45 years old, short in stature but not in build, measuring a husky 5'6" to 5'8". He has a square jaw and wears distinct sunglasses, possibly a prescription tint and unusually thick.
Marauding mainly within Chicago, Franklin Park and the LaGrange area, his time frame is a consistent three-hour window between 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.
He strikes mostly in monthly intervals with one glaring gap; from April 2008 to July 2009, the hold-ups stopped.
Where was the TCF Bandit for those 15 months? Underground? Incarcerated? Or on a bank-funded vacation?
The mystery deepened four months ago when he came out of hibernation, hitting banks in July and August.
The TCF Bandit is back, assumed armed and dangerous. His MO predicts he's about to strike again.
Tellers claim the TCF Bandit is extremely confident, often pushing a cart around to wait out customers or standing in line up to three people deep.
He's escaped unnoticed every time, and so far luck is on his side. In his ninth robbery this July, surveillance video shows a police officer walking into the store 30 seconds after the TCF Bandit makes his getaway.
FBI agents worry the longer he's free, the better odds he may act on the violence he's been threatening all along.
There is a $15,000 reward for information about the fugitive TCF Bandit. Call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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