Stringer Bell Bandit, Suspect in Recent Loop Bank Robberies, Arrested in Downtown Chicago

The combined efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Chicago Police Department culminated in the arrest of a Chicago man suspected of a string of recent bank robberies in the Chicago loop. Kenneth Anderson, who had been dubbed the alleged Stringer Bell Bandit for the his resemblance to a character on the television series The Wire, was taken into custody on Friday by CPD bicycle patrol officers after they were tipped off by alert bank employees.

Anderson, age 46, whose last known address was 8151 South Winchester in Chicago, was arrested without incident by CPD’s Area Central Bike Patrol Unit and later turned over to members of the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force. Anderson was subsequently charged in United States District Court with one count of bank robbery, a felony offense. The arrest and charge were announced today by Thomas R. Trautmann, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the FBI, and Garry F. McCarthy, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.

The charge filed today against Anderson was in connection with the November 2, 2012, robbery of a Fifth Third Bank branch located at 1 South Dearborn. Although not charged, Anderson is also suspected of being the individual responsible for a number of robberies of other downtown area bank branches dating back to early October.

According to the criminal complaint filed against him, Anderson allegedly entered the Fifth Third Bank on November 2, 2012 and presented a demand note to a teller. After also making verbal demands of the teller, the robber was given money and left the bank. On Friday, the suspect, later identified as Anderson, returned to the same bank, where bank employees recognized him as the person who had committed the prior robbery and alerted law enforcement. Anderson was encountered within a few blocks of the bank by the bike patrol officers, taken into custody, and subsequently transferred to federal custody.

Anderson appeared this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Young Kim, at which time he was formally charged and ordered held pending his next court appearance. If convicted of the charges filed against him, Anderson faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force is comprised of FBI special agents and officers from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police and Chicago Police Department.

The Area Central Bike Patrol Unit provided substantial support to the FBI in the days leading up to the arrest of Anderson.

The public is reminded that a criminal 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 indictment in this case are available from the Chicago FBI’s Press Office, 312-829-1199.