CHICAGO (CBS) — An 83-year-old man has been arrested and accused in a string of heists in the Chicago area. The FBI is connecting him to seven bank robberies, at least one of which included an accomplice.
A 24-page criminal complaint lays it all out. According to the FBI, the two men met while in prison and then went on an escapade to rob more than half a dozen banks in suburbs surrounding Chicago in the last seven months.
The 83-year-old, Donald Bennett, is known as the Leaping Bandit, for heists including five bank robberies in 1987 in the Chicago area. He was released in April 2020 after serving 31 years in prison.
“Bank robberies were one of the first crimes that the FBI became involved in,” said Arthur Lurigio, a professor of criminology and psychology at Loyola University.
He says the FBI has investigated bank robbers since the 1930s. That expertise led them to Bennett and an accomplice nearly four years after his release.
“Probably feeling a sense of practice, competency,” said Lurigio. “He took a long hiatus, but he’s going back to what he’s familiar doing.”