A man suspected of robbing a Plainfield bank last Friday was arrested a short time after the robbery and charged today in U.S. District Court in Chicago in connection with the heist. The arrest was announced today by 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.

Kenneth M. Matlock, age 35, who was last known to reside in Woodridge, Illinois, appeared this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan E. Cox and was formally charged with one count of bank robbery, a felony offense. Matlock was ordered held pending his next court appearance on August 21, 2014, at 3:00 p.m.

According to the complaint, the robber entered the BMO Harris Bank branch located at 15901 South Route 59 in Plainfield on Friday at around 2:20 p.m. and, after telling a bank teller he would like to make a withdrawal, presented a note to the teller demanding money and indicating that he was armed with a gun. A witness in the parking lot of the bank, alerted to the robbery by a bank employee, noticed a Dodge Durango leaving from an area where the alleged robber had been seen heading after the robbery. The witness followed the Durango and provided information that led law enforcement officers to the Durango. Approximately 15 minutes after the robbery occurred, officers from the Plainfield Police Department and other state law enforcement officers stopped the Durango and arrested the sole occupant of the vehicle, later identified as Matlock, without incident.

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

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.