Hammond, Indiana Man Arrested for Chicago Bank Robbery

A Hammond, Indiana man was arrested early this morning after being charged with the January 2010 robbery of a Chicago bank, announced Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Michael S. Welch, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis office.

SHAWN B. TRAVIS, age 39, whose last known address was 6605 Tanglewood in Hammond, was arrested earlier today, without incident, by members of the Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF) and Special Agents from the FBI’s Merrillville, Indiana office. TRAVIS was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count of Bank Robbery, which is a felony offense. 

According to the complaint, the Charter One Bank branch, located at 11150 South Western Avenue in Chicago was robbed on January 29th of this year. Witnesses described the robber as a black/male who was wearing a yellow and orange construction-type safety vest, a dark knit cap, and a flannel jacket with a hood pulled up over his head. The robber approached a teller and handed her a note announcing a robbery and demanding cash from her teller drawer. He then began yelling at the teller and also demanded money from another teller working at the drive-up window. The robber escaped on foot with approximately $2800 and was last seen walking northbound on Western Avenue, out of sight of the bank employees and customers.

The demand note used by the robber was left behind at the bank and was recovered by responding law enforcement officers. A forensic examination of this note discovered several latent fingerprints which were later determined to be those of TRAVIS.

Subsequent investigation by the Chicago FBI’s VCTF developed additional evidence linking TRAVIS to the robbery and resulting in the charges announced today.

TRAVIS appeared before Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow in Chicago this morning, at which time he was formally charged. TRAVIS was ordered held without bond, pending his next court appearance, which is scheduled for May 25 at 1:45 p.m. Until then, TRAVIS will be held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago. If convicted of the charges filed against him, TRAVIS faces a possible sentence of up to twenty (20) years in prison.

The Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF) is comprised of FBI special agents, detectives from the Chicago Police Department, and investigators from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police.

Additional information about this case and other unsolved Chicago area bank robberies, including downloadable photographs, is available online at the Chicago Bandit Tracker website, www.bandittrackerchicago.com.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Copies of the criminal complaint filed in this case are available from the Chicago FBI’s press office at (312) 829-1199.