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DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. - A Chicago man who was on parole when he allegedly participated in the armed robbery of two BMO Harris banks in DuPage County last summer has been charged.
Kenneth Eggleston, 30 of Princeton Park, made his first court appearance Saturday where he faced 14 felonies including armed violence, armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, financial institution robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of a firearm by a felon, and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a statement from the DuPage County state's attorney's office said.
Prosecutors said on the morning of July 19, two masked, armed men entered the BMO Harris Bank at 320 West Diehl Road in Naperville. Once inside, the men ordered everyone to lay on the floor before taking two bank employees at gunpoint to the vault and ordered them to open it.
The robbers took around $95,716 from the vault before fleeing the scene in a car that was reported stolen out of Chicago on July 9, prosecutors said.
Kenneth Eggleston, 30, of Princeton Park (DuPage County states attorneys office)
Two days later, the robbers entered the BMO Harris Bank at 1355 West Lake Street in Addison and ordered bank employees and customers to lay on the floor. One of the suspects then jumped over the counter and ordered the tellers to open their cash drawers and put the money into a garbage bag.
Once the drawers were emptied, one of the robbers took an employee to the vault at gunpoint and demanded they put more cash into the garbage bag. The suspects fled the bank with approximately $172,152, according to the statement.
About a week later on July 28, the two men approached a security guard at the entrance of the BMO Harris Bank at 2412 75th Street in Woodridge while armed with guns. The robbers ordered the guard to open the bank at gunpoint, but he refused. After the guard denied them entry, the suspects fled the scene in a stolen red Infiniti Q50, which authorities said matched the description of the getaway car used in the Naperville and Addison robberies.
Within an hour of the attempted robbery in Woodridge, a Chicago police helicopter was called to track the Infiniti after a Burr Ridge police officer spotted the sedan speeding on Interstate 294 from Interstate 55, prosecutors said.
The helicopter located the car to 11631 Wallace Street in Chicago, where police allegedly found Eggleston standing in front of the Infiniti with a backpack in his hand. Prosecutors said Eggleston dropped the backpack and tried to run, but was taken into custody before being released.
Investigators later identified Eggleston as a suspect in the robberies, and he was taken into custody in Chicago on Friday without incident on a previously issued arrest warrant, the statement said. Eggleston, who is a convicted felon and was on parole for a weapon offense at the time of the alleged bank robberies, had two active arrest warrants in Cook County for possession of a stolen vehicle and aggravate fleeing and eluding a police officer, prosecutors said.
"We are all very grateful that no employees or customers at the banks were physically harmed during these alleged robberies," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said. "The apprehension of the first of several individuals who allegedly committed these crimes sends the message that we will use all tools available to us, including assistance from the federal government and air support if necessary to hold accountable anyone suspected of this type of behavior."
Eggleston's is scheduled to be arraigned during his next scheduled court appearance on Nov. 13.