A robber who “had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath” was caught not long after stealing $552 from a Rogers Park bank Friday morning, according to court documents.
David Johnson, 59, whom authorities identified as homeless, had his initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge Friday afternoon following the robbery about 10:15 a.m. at the Byline Bank branch at 6945 N. Clark St., according to an FBI spokesman.
Johnson also is suspected of robbing a Chase Bank branch, 550 S. Dearborn St., on Thursday, according to the FBI.
A man walked into the Byline branch Friday morning, went up to a teller counter and put a white bag on the counter, according to an FBI affidavit filed as part of the charges against Johnson. The man, whose breath smelled strongly of alcohol, said something like “Put all the money in the bag,” and the teller asked him to repeat the phrase.
“Put all the money from top drawer in bag,” the robber said.
The teller gave the man the money, and the robber left, according to the affidavit.
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The teller activated a robbery alarm, and Chicago police responded. When the robber’s description was broadcast over police radio, officers saw someone who looked like the robber in the 7000 block of North Ravenswood Avenue, not far from the bank. When they stopped the man, he had a white plastic McDonald’s bag with $552 in it — the exact amount stolen from the bank, according to the affidavit.
The teller and another bank employee identified Johnson as the robber, and he admitted to investigators he was the robber, the affidavit says.