Crime & Safety
Man, 73, Charged In Niles Bank Robbery
A 73-year-old man was arrested outside a motel in North Chicago after he robbed a bank on Sunday. The suspect told a teller that he had "six months to live."
After a Niles bank was robbed Saturday, FBI agents and Niles Police charged Walter Unbehaun, 73, of Rock Hill, S.C., the very next day.
Unbehaun was charged with one count of bank robbery, a felony, in a criminal complaint filed Monday with the U.S. District Court. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
According to an FBI statement, the complaint said Unbehaun drove to the area of BMO Harris Bank, 7707 W. Dempster St. in neighboring Niles on Saturday morning. He then entered the bank, approached a teller and presented a note announcing a robbery.
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The complaint alleges he demanded money and told the teller that he had only six months to live and nothing to lose. According to the complaint, he opened the jacket he was wearing to reveal a handgun tucked in the waistband of his pants.
The FBI statement said that after members of the public who had seen media coverage of the bank robbery provided information, the FBI and Niles police observed Unbehaun leaving a room at the Great Lakes Motel in North Chicago Sunday afternoon. Law enforcement arrested him without incident.
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Cory B. Nelson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago field office of the FBI, thanked the Niles Police Department for the significant assistance provided by detectives of the department, the statement said.
Unbehaun appeared Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown and was charged. Unbehaun remains in federal custody pending his next court appearance, which is not yet scheduled.
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