FBI Seeking Help in Search for Bank Robbery Team

Robert J. Holley, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI, is asking for the public’s help in locating a pair of individuals who allegedly carried out a takeover-style armed bank robbery in East Chicago, Indiana, last Saturday and are now believed to be in the Chicago area with their two young children.

Jeremiah Ellis and Ashley Patterson, both of the 4800 block of Homerlee in East Chicago, are wanted pursuant to federal arrest warrants issued in the Northern District of Indiana in connection with the robbery of the First Merchants Bank located at 4740 Indianapolis Boulevard.

According to a criminal complaint filed today in United States District Court in Hammond, Indiana, Ellis and Patterson were both armed with handguns when they entered the bank Saturday morning and announced a robbery, ordering bank employees and customers to the floor. Ellis allegedly went over the teller counter to get to teller drawers, while Patterson allegedly held the bank customers and a security guard at gunpoint. The robbers were seen fleeing the bank in a late-model Chevy Tahoe. As responding East Chicago Police officers attempted to stop the Tahoe, Ellis got out of the vehicle, fired at the officers, and then got back into the vehicle and fired at the officers again as the Tahoe drove away, according to the complaint.

Ellis is described as a male, black, 6’1” tall, and 154 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes and a tattoo on the right side of his neck. Patterson is described as a female, black, 5’10” tall, and 160 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

Both Ellis and Patterson are considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information about their whereabouts is asked to call the Chicago Office of the FBI at (312) 421-6700 or local law enforcement authorities.