A suspect in a bank robbery that occurred late Friday afternoon was located and arrested a short time after the heist and has been charged in federal court, announced Robert J. Holley, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI, and Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

David L. Stallings, 55, whose last known permanent address was in Cicero, was charged in a criminal complaint filed Friday evening in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count of bank robbery, a felony offense, in connection with the December 5, 2014 robbery of the TCF Bank branch located at 7400 S. Cicero Avenue in Bedford Park, Illinois. He appeared yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan E. Cox and was ordered held pending his next court appearance, which has not been scheduled.

The complaint alleges that the robber entered the bank at about 4:15 p.m. Friday, approached a bank teller, displayed a small handgun, and demanded money in the form of large bills from the teller. After receiving money from the teller’s drawer, the robber was seen leaving the bank on foot. Law enforcement officers responding to the robbery were notified that the robber was likely in the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Chicago Field Office area of 76th Street and Cicero Avenue. The officers briefly stopped traffic at that intersection in order to check vehicle occupants until they found an individual matching the description of the robber on a bus in the area. The individual, later identified as Stallings, announced to approaching officers that a gun in his jacket was not real and was later found to have a large amount of money in his pants pockets, according to the criminal complaint.

If convicted of the charge filed against him, Stallings faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Mr. Holley expressed his gratitude to the Bedford Park, Burbank, Chicago, and Oak Lawn Police Departments for their assistance in the immediate response to the robbery.

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.