Robert Maday Found Guilty In Crime Spree
Updated 01/09/13 - 4:30 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A federal jury has found Robert Maday guilty of multiple charges--including bank robbery, escaping custody and a 27-hour crime spree.
The 42-year old, formerly of Elk Grove Village, was accused of overpowering two Cook County investigators back in 2009, when they were taking him from jail to the courthouse to be sentenced to 13 years for a series of suburban bank robberies.
In court, prosecutors said after his escape, Maday hijacked a woman in Hoffman Estates, held up a bank in Bloomingdale, and led police on a high-speed car chase before being captured.
Prosecutors told CBS 2's Derrick Blakley that Maday's criminal legend might die with him in prison, calling him a daring and dangerous braggart.
"He seemed to think, in his own mind, that he was this legendary criminal," Assistant U.S. Atty. Annie Kastanek said.
In 2009, Maday triggered a huge manhunt, when he overpowered two Cook County State's Attorney's investigators, took their guns, and fled on a 26-hour crime spree.
He carjacked two different women while on the run, and while stealing Domenica Pischetola's VW Jetta, he boasted about his escape.
"When he first approached me … he goes, 'Lady, don't you watch the news? I'm the guy who escaped from prison last night,'" Pischetola said after testifying at Maday's trial last week.
Pischetola gave him the keys to her car, but didn't get in as he had demanded at first.
Maday was finally captured when he crashed that car after a high-speed chase.
While he was on the lam, he boldly robbed the same Bloomingdale bank he'd hit about a year earlier. Maday told the teller he had a gun. At trial, his attorney argued no one saw one.
"I still believe there was reasonable doubt as to whether he had a gun under his shirt," defense attorney Anthony Sassan said.
The jury didn't believe Maday, convicting him of five counts, including bank robbery and escaping custody.
Prosecutors called the guilty verdic, closure overdue for the tellers who were badly shaken in the stickup.
"The victims of the bank robbery – the tellers – were traumatized after this event," Assistant U.S. Atty. Derek Owens said. "For them, that's the most important part: for this to be over."
Maday was already facing 43 years in prison on separate robbery charges in state court. He also faces up to 47 more years for his federal convictions.
