Man Charged With Trying To Rob Bank In Old Irving Park
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 19-year-old man has been charged with trying to rob a bank in the Old Irving Park neighborhood, after he was arrested earlier this week when he holed up in a house in the neighboring Portage Park neighborhood.
Charles M. Leclaire, of Rockford, has been charged with one count of attempted bank robbery.
According to the charges, Leclaire walked up to a teller at the Bank of America branch at Irving Park Road and Kilpatrick Avenue around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and handed her a note claiming he had a gun, and demanding $1,000.
The teller immediately activated the bank's silent alarm, and notified the manager, then noticed Leclaire was leaving the bank without getting any money. Another bank employee called 911 and provided a description of the robber.
Three Chicago police officers on patrol spotted Leclaire a short time later about a mile away, near Addison and Lavergne, and followed him to a home in the 4900 block of West Addison, according to the charges. The officers didn't see him go inside, but a witness told the officers he had gone in the back entrance, so the officers set up a perimeter.
SWAT teams were brought in, and after police confirmed that the man in surveillance footage from the bank was the same one they saw, a neighbor told investigators the man lived in the basement of the home on Addison.
After police had surrounded the home, Leclaire called 911 and told police he wanted to surrender. He was arrested around 2 p.m. and transferred to FBI custody.
A judge ordered Leclaire held without bail, pending a detention hearing on Friday.
