The FBI is asking for the public’s help in finding “the Pinball Bandit,” suspected of robbing a Hyde Park bank Wednesday evening and hitting five other banks across Chicago since Jan. 13.
The robber got his nickname because of the frequency of the robberies and the locations. The FBI says two robberies happened the same day, just over an hour apart. One bank was robbed twice in three weeks.
In the latest robbery, the man walked into a branch of Fifth Third Bank at 1420 E. 53rd St. about 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, according to the FBI’s BanditTrackerChicago website. He was last seen running west from the bank, according to Special Agent Garrett Croon, a spokesman for the FBI in Chicago.
The man was described as between 25 and 35 years old. He has brown eyes, a medium build and is between 5-foot-11 and 6-foot-1. He was wearing a black hat, gray scarf, gray jacket, black pants and tan boots.
The same man is suspected of committing five other bank robberies across Chicago between Jan. 13 and Feb. 2, authorities said.
— A Chase bank at 1204 E. 53rd St. in the Hyde Park neighborhood around 5:40 p.m. Feb. 2.
— Less than three weeks earlier, the man is believed to have robbed the same bank around 5:50 p.m. Jan. 13, according to the FBI in Chicago.
— On Jan. 19, the man managed to rob two separate banks, which are about 11 miles away from each other: one on the North Side and one on the Near West Side. He allegedly robbed a branch of MB Financial Bank at 5918 N. Broadway St. at 4:38 p.m. first, and then he allegedly robbed a branch of Chase bank at 1130 W. Taylor St. at 5:51 p.m., according to a release from the FBI.
— On Jan. 25, the man robbed a Chase bank at 1959 W. Division St. on the Northwest Side at 5:47 p.m.
No injuries have been reported so far in connection with the robberies.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or call the Chicago office of the FBI at 312-421-6700. The agency said it is offering a reward.
