DOWNTOWN — A man robbed a Loop bank — and then used the money to pay a cabbie while he made his escape, officials said.
Anthony Morgan has been charged in the bank robbery, according to federal court documents. The FBI said Morgan threatened a teller with a bomb and got away on a taxi and bus, with the robbery and escape caught in surveillance video.
On April 18, Morgan walked into a Fifth Third Bank, 1 S. Dearborn St., while wearing a Blackhawks hat and carrying a gray bag, according to federal court documents. The man handed a teller a note.
"I have a bomb in my bag. I will guarantee we will all die if you don't do what I say," the note said, according to the FBI. "If you don't give me the money I will blow us up."
After giving the teller the note, the man spoke into a microphone on his headphones, saying something similar to, "I'm in. Do what you want when you're ready," according to the documents.
The man then asked the teller repeatedly if he or she had pressed a button, and the teller said no.
"Give me the money. No trackers, no bundles," the man then told the teller, the FBI said.
The teller gave the man money and the man took the money, folded it in half and put it in his shirt pocket, according to the documents. Before leaving the bank, the man said, "Don't call them. I'm going to leave the bag outside."
The teller thought the man meant there was a bomb in the bag and the man would leave it outside the bank to keep employees from calling the police, according to court documents. The teller watched the man walk outside and go west on Madison Street.
The man took about $2,288, the FBI said.
Surveillance video showed the man walking out of the bank and getting into a taxi, according to court documents. The man reached into a gray bag and pulled out $20, which he gave to the taxi driver.
After several minutes, the taxi pulled in front of a CTA bus and the man took off his Blackhawks hat, put it in his gray hat and then got out of the car and walked to a bus, according to court documents.
The man used a transit pass on the bus and sat down, getting off near Kedzie Avenue and Madison Street, the FBI said.
The next day, on April 18, a relative of Morgan's called the FBI and said Morgan was the man who'd robbed the Fifth Third Bank, according to court documents. The relative had recognized Morgan in photos from the robbery.
On April 25, the teller who had been robbed was given a photographic lineup and he or she identified the photo of Morgan with "75 percent confidence" as being that of the robber, the FBI said. Another bank employee said the photo of Morgan "could be" that of the robber, but he or she did not make an identification.
On April 26, another person contacted the FBI and said Morgan had robbed the Fifth Third Bank, the FBI said. That person said he or she had worked with Morgan and recognized his Blackhawks hat.
FBI agents then found Morgan's Facebook and found a photo that showed him wearing a Blackhawks hat, glasses and earrings similar to what the robber was seen wearing in surveillance footage, according to court documents.
Officials said they also found Morgan's Ventra card had been used on the same bus and at the same time as the robber used the bus to get away from the bank.
Officials think Morgan might also been involved in an Aug. 12 robbery at Chase Bank, 2 N. LaSalle St., where a robber wore a Blackhawks hat, according to court documents. Morgan took a vacation day at his work that day.
