FBI Chicago
Special Agent Siobhan Johnson
(312) 829-1199
December 18, 2014

Suspect in Two Bank Robberies Facing Federal Charge

CHICAGO—Within minutes of a downtown bank robbery on Wednesday, Chicago Police Department officers took a suspect into custody, and that man has now been charged in federal court in connection with the robbery. The arrest and charge were announced today by Robert J. Holley, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Garry F. McCarthy, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.

In a criminal complaint filed today in U.S. District Court, REGINALD DEBERRY, 52, of the 6300 block of S. Sacramento in Chicago, was charged with one count of bank robbery, a felony offense. He appeared this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheila Finnegan, and he remains in federal custody pending his next court appearance, which is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 22, at 1:15 p.m.

The complaint alleges that an individual robbed the Fifth Third Bank branch located at 601 S. Clark Street, Chicago, yesterday around 1:30 p.m. According to the complaint, the robber entered the bank and made a demand for money from a bank teller, requesting the money in the form of 100-, 50- and 20-dollar denominations and implying that the teller had only 30 seconds to comply with the demand. After receiving money that contained a dye pack from the teller, the robber walked out of the bank. About six minutes later, Chicago Police Department officers who had been alerted to the robbery noticed an individual matching the robber’s description in the vicinity of the bank and noted that the man appeared to have red paint on his hands. The officers arrested the man, later identified as Deberry, and subsequently turned him over to the FBI.

Although not charged, Deberry is suspected of also carrying out a Dec. 5, 2014, robbery at a Fifth Third Bank branch located at 57 E. Randolph, Chicago. On that date, a robber entered the bank and demanded money, threatening to shoot a bank teller and a bank customer while making a gesture implying he had a gun concealed in his jacket, according to the complaint.

If convicted of the charge filed against him, Deberry faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

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.