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The afternoon of June 27, 2023, a white male described as middle-aged walked into the Chase bank branch at 5705 W. 95th St., Oak Lawn. Employees told police the alleged bank robber appeared to be wearing a bowl-shaped wig and fake beard. A teller said the man was overheard saying, “This is not a game,” and “I need all the money out of the drawers.” The suspect also directed tellers “not to touch any buttons,” authorities said. After filling a tote bag with money, the man left on foot.

A suspect said to be Edward Binert during the Oak Lawn Chase bank robbery June 27, 2023 (FBI)

Between June 27 and June 28, the FBI obtained documents from a car rental facility in the 9000 block of Southwest Highway showing that Bennett, who used his real name, had rented a vehicle consistent with the June 27 bank robbery time frame.

The pair hit Oak Lawn again on Aug. 25, 2023, this time the Chase bank branch at 104th Street and Cicero Avenue, according to the complaint. Employees said they were approached by two men wearing wigs and face coverings around 12:17 p.m. One of the pair pointed a gun at bank tellers and stole $30,868 before escaping in a red Nissan, federal agents said. A witness took a photo of the fleeing Nissan’s license plate.

Oak Lawn plate readers tracked the red Nissan Altima driving south and north on Cicero Avenue before and after the robbery between 12:09 p.m. and 12:22 p.m., when the vehicle was turned in at a car rental facility in Burbank shortly after 1 p.m. The plates had apparently been switched with stolen plates registered to a Chevy Cruze in southern Illinois. The owner of the Cruz told law enforcement she thought the buyer had removed the plates. The complaint said the Burbank car rental facility told police the Nissan was rented by Bennett, who provided a Kentucky address, before leaving in a Ford Escape with another man.

Later on the evening of Aug. 25, Oak Lawn police conducted a traffic stop of the Ford Escape. According to Oak Lawn police officers, the driver was positively identified as Bennett, the complaint said. Bennett told officers he was in Illinois visiting family and friends and planned to return to his home state of Kentucky the next day. During the traffic stop, Bennett granted consent to search the vehicle, where officers found an army green/tan baseball cap consistent with that observed in the bank security footage, the complaint said.

A background check on Bennett revealed previous arrests for bank robbery. In 1967, Bennett was convicted of bank robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, when he was sentenced to 24 years in a federal prison. Bennett was also convicted of a 1989 bank robbery in the Chicago area and was released in 2020 from his second stint behind bars, according to reports.

Binert also has a record of bank robberies. He pleaded guilty in 2004 to holding four employees hostage for several hours during a 2003 holdup at a Plainfield bank, and admitted to stealing nearly $150,000 during three previous bank robberies in Plainfield and Bolingbrook, the Chicago Tribune reported at the time.

A man said to be Donald Bennett loiters in the vestibule of the Hickory Hills Chase Bank on Feb. 14.

On Valentine’s Day, the pair is alleged to have hit the Chase bank branch at 95th Street and Roberts Road. According to surveillance footage provided by the bank, a white male wearing a two-toned gray and dark-colored jacket and dark-colored shoes, later identified by law enforcement as Binert, is shown entering the bank at 11:56 a.m. Binert entered behind the teller counter after the door was unlocked by a bank employee, the feds said.

While Binert was in the bank, Bennett appeared on bank security video waiting in the front vestibule, the feds said. He displayed a silver handgun to a customer entering the bank, following her inside. Bennett was wearing a dark-colored jacket, dark pants, dark shoes and a black face mask, according to the FBI. A few minutes later, the two left the bank and entered a silver sedan at 11:56 a.m., according to the security video provided by a nearby business. The silver sedan is seen fleeing the parking lot. The two got away with approximately $7,000, officials said.

License plate readers tracked the vehicle with the stolen license plates to 89th Street and 49th Avenue used by the rented Nissan in the August robbery, the complaint said.

The FBI also found documents showing vehicles rented at Alsip and Chicago-Midway car rental facilities. According to the complaint, the primary phone number on the agreements were attributed to Bennett, with a secondary phone number belonging to Binert at the Airway Mobile Home Community at 9001 S. Cicero Ave., Oak Lawn.

Cellular tower data also placed Binert’s phone near the Chase bank branch robbery on June 23 in Lombard, the Willowbrook Chase bank branch on Nov. 29, 2023 and the Fifth-Third Bank in Tinley Park on Dec. 1, 2023, feds said.

Police surveillance was placed on Binert’s mobile home. A Hyundai parked in front of Binert’s residence was registered to Bennett in Kentucky. A few hours after the Hickory Hills bank heist, Bennett, Binert and a woman identified in the complaint as “Individual A,” left the residence and got into Bennett’s car, according to the complaint. The three were followed to a restaurant on 95th Street, where the three had lunch.

Stolen plates recovered in a raid at an Oak Lawn mobile home. | FBI

A few minutes before midnight on Feb. 14, four flash bangs resounded in the mobile home park. Oak Lawn police sent out an emergency text alert informing residents that officers were assisting the FBI in executing a search warrant and to remain inside until further notice.

Bennett, Binert and the woman identified as Individual A were inside the mobile home when the FBI served the warrant. The FBI said agents searched the premises and found items used in the Hickory Hills robbery, including the stolen Illinois plates, a gray hat with black hair attached to it, and makeup recovered in a backpack found in the bedroom closet.

A loaded gun was found laying on the couch, and another tucked between a seat cushion and the armrest of a different couch, according to the FBI. Another multi-colored firearm was recovered from a bedside table in the bedroom. In addition, the FBI said that agents also found shrink-wrapped U.S. currency in a black canvas tote bag, and a pistol magazine recovered from a suitcase in the living room.

Both suspects disguised themselves with wigs and fake beards in seven bank robberies, the FBI said. (FBI)

Clothing and shoes were recovered similar to that worn by the bandits in bank surveillance video, along with a paper towel with makeup smudged on it in the kitchen garbage can, the complaint said.

During an interview with the FBI after Miranda rights were read, Binert allegedly admitted to robbing the Hickory Hills bank. He also identified himself in bank surveillance video and told agents that he and Bennett used the silver sedan parked outside his mobile home, the FBI said. According to the complaint, Binert said that Bennett rented the vehicle, who used the nickname “Doc.”

Binert said he met Bennett in 2006, while both were serving time in a federal prison in Michigan. The aging convicted bank robber had been staying with Binert since the prior Sunday. Binert also described how he “rallied” the Chase bank employees and customers to a cubicle where he told them to “stay put,” according to the FBI.

If convicted, both men face up to 20 years in federal prison.

Related:

– FBI Releases Photo Of Lombard Armed Bank Robbery Suspect (Glen Ellyn Patch)

– Man In Wig Robs Oak Lawn Chase Bank: Police (Oak Lawn Patch)

– Bank Robbed At Gunpoint In Oak Lawn: FBI (Oak Lawn Patch)

– Handgun Flashed In Tinley Park Bank Robbery, Suspect At Large: FBI (Tinley Park Patch)

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– 2 Suspects In Custody After Chase Bank Robbery In Hickory Hills: Cops (Palos Patch)

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