Attorneys for two 17-year-olds facing charges for their alleged roles in the Feb. 15 robbery of a Naperville bank branch said Friday their clients merely fell under the spell of the man charged with masterminding the crime, Terry Twist of Aurora.
After the arraignment of defendants John Falls of Aurora and Dominick Pasqurella of Naperville, attorneys for the pair said the teens’ only crime was allowing themselves to be influenced by an allegedly crooked adult. After both youths pleaded not guilty to felony theft charges Friday, their attorneys said Falls and Pasqurella were manipulated by 25-year-old Twist, the manager of the bank branch who now faces federal bank robbery charges.
“It was an adult who arranged and planned (the theft) and got these kids to execute it,” said Chicago attorney Andre Grant, who is representing Falls. “Like all kids who are 16 and 17 years of age, these are vulnerable children capable of doing silly things. We all did crazy things when we were their age; I know I did.”
Police have said the robbery of a TCF Bank branch in a 95th Street grocery involved eight or more teenagers. Falls and Pasqurella are the fifth and sixth area teens to face charges, but they are the only youths facing them in adult court.
After appearing in Will County Circuit Court in Joliet, Falls and Pasqurella were escorted to the Will County Jail on the orders of Circuit Judge Stephen White.
The two were released a short time later after 10 percent of their $30,000 bonds was posted by their attorneys and their parents.
Falls, of the 2400 block of Chandler Court in Aurora, has been described by police as the fake stickup man in a staged robbery of the bank branch. Police have said the heist, which saw $90,000 taken from the branch, included the holdup scam as a tactic to confuse investigators.
Pasqurella, of the 2000 block of Dorval Drive in Naperville, is accused of holding and spending some of the stolen cash and providing transportation for Falls before and after the crime.
Twist, who was arrested late last month in California, will face charges in Chicago.
Four other teens, all 16-year-olds from Naperville, were charged with theft in juvenile petitions in Will County late last month. That group will appear in court March 23.
Outside White’s courtroom after Friday’s arraignment, Grant took exception to police identifying his client as a “stickup man.”
“He had no weapons, no knives, no guns,” Grant said.
Falls and Pasqurella are to appear in court again for a pretrial hearing at 9:30 a.m. April 14. Each faces a penalty ranging from probation to between 3 and 7 years in the state penitentiary.