Local Police Reports

Arrest Made in ‘Red Line Robber’ Investigation


Chicago, IL–(ENEWSPF)– Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was joined today by Jody P. Weis, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and Tom Dart, Cook County Sheriff, in announcing the arrest of a suspected serial bank robber who is believed responsible for the armed robbery of at least nine (9) Chicago banks, dating to December of last year.

LANCE P. DENNIE, age 44, of 10721 South King Drive in Chicago, was arrested yesterday afternoon, without incident, by members of the Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF) outside his residence. DENNIE was charged in a criminal complaint field on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count of Armed Bank Robbery, which is a felony offense. The complaint charges DENNIE with the June 8th robbery of the Charter One Bank branch, located at 33 West Grand Avenue in Chicago, during which he escaped with over $10,000 in cash.

According to the complaint, DENNIE entered the Charter One branch around 2:30 p.m. and inquired about opening a new account. After being escorted by a bank employee to a desk in the lobby, he orally announced a robbery and displayed a handgun that was tucked in the waistband of his pants. He then forced the bank employee to the teller line, where he produced a black plastic bag and instructed several tellers to fill the bag with cash from their drawers. Included in the cash given to DENNIE was a security dye pack. DENNIE is alleged to have then fled the bank on foot, disappearing into the passing crowd. Witnesses recall that DENNIE was also in possession of a folded up newspaper, which he took with him when he fled the scene.

Following the robbery, a canvas of the area by task force members discovered an activated dye pack and $195 in dye stained money in a nearby dumpster. Also found in the dumpster was a dye stained newspaper. The recovered items were processed by the CPD crime laboratory and fingerprints matching DENNIE’s were discovered on the newspaper. Further investigation by the VCTF developed additional evidence linking DENNIE to the robbery, resulting in the charges announced today.

Though only charged with the June 8th robbery, DENNIE is a suspect in eight (8) additional thefts, committed by an individual who was dubbed the “Red Line Robber.” The robber was given this moniker as all of his suspected thefts occurred within close proximity to the CTA’s Red Line, which was possibly used as a means of escape.

DENNIE appeared before Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez in Chicago, earlier today, at which time he was formally charged. DENNIE was ordered held without bond, pending his next scheduled court appearance, and will be held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago. If convicted of the charge filed against him, DENNIE faces a possible sentence of up to twenty (20) years incarceration.

This case was investigated by the Chicago FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF), which is comprised of FBI Special Agents, Detectives from the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and Investigators from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

Additional information about this investigation and other unsolved bank robberies, including downloadable photographs, is available at the Chicago Bandit Tracker website, www.bandittrackerchicago.com.

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.


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