Gunmen on Thursday robbed the Harris Bank branch at 555 Burnham Ave., Calumet City, of more than $100,000 cash.
But they didn't get away with the loot.
An anonymous tip about a December robbery outside the same bank and the quick thinking of three residents helped authorities arrest and charge two people, and authorities are a seeking a third.
In U.S. District Court on Friday, prosecutors charged 33-year-old Lafayette Toney, of Chicago, and 23-year-old bank employee Lindsay E. Seals, of Calumet City, each with one count of armed robbery of the bank.
A federal judge ordered both held without bond pending their next court appearances, which are scheduled for next week, FBI Special Agent Ross Rice said.
Toney has previous convictions for robbery, kidnapping and drug possession and was on parole in Illinois prior to his arrest. He also faces one count of armed robbery from the December incident, Calumet City Police Chief Patrick O'Meara said. As soon as next week, Toney could appear for a bond hearing in Cook County on that charge, the chief said.
The second gunman from Thursday's robbery is still at large. Rice said the man is described as black, between 25 and 30 years old, about 5 foot 9 or 5 foot 10, and thinly built.
Shortly after bank employees arrived for work at 8:30 a.m., two men armed with semiautomatic handguns entered the bank through a side door that is always locked. Calumet City police said they immediately began to receive 911 calls from bank customers.
One caller told police two masked men with guns had jumped the bank counter and were confronting tellers, O'Meara said. Another caller, who was entering the drive-through, saw a gunman leaving the bank. A third caller tipped police to an erratic driver heading west on Pulaski Road in a vehicle with an Illinois temporary plate registered to Seals, the chief said.
"Without the assistance of these concerned citizens, it's quite likely that this case would remain unsolved," said Robert Grant, the FBI special agent in charge of the Chicago office.
While securing the scene, authorities found security camera footage of Seals, who has no criminal background, unlocking the bank's south door, O'Meara said.
Police found Toney driving a vehicle matching a witness's description, O'Meara said. Police arrested him Thursday afternoon near the intersection of 89th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago after a short vehicle pursuit and foot chase. Police recovered a duffle bag filled with a large sum of money, he said.
Calumet City police and security officials from the Harris Bank Corp. were in the process of investigating the anonymous tip, citing Toney as a person of interest, O'Meara said.
In the December armed robbery, a man who visited the bank to deposit weekend receipts from a local business was confronted by three men, one of whom had a gun. As recently as last week, police and Harris Bank Corp. investigators were considering the possibility that robbery involved a bank insider.
