2 Robbers Caught, 1 On The Loose

By Rachelle Bowden in News on May 9, 2005 2:45PM

This weekend we read about some robberies around town. In two of them, the suspects were caught. In the most serious, a string of bank robberies, the suspect is still on the loose.

First off is a robbery that's the most strange of the three. Earlier this month 22-year-old Robert Johnston broke into Pop's Italian Beef on the South Side and stole a donation jar meant to help those serving in Iraq. He made about 5 bucks and the theft was caught on surveillance tape. So then instead of avoiding Pops like any criminal with a head on his shoulders would do, he went back on Saturday and ordered some food there. The restaurant manager recognized him from his robbery tape and called 911. Done deal. Oh, and the food he went back for - it cost more than the money he stole from the charity jar!

Next up is the theft most likely to happen to us. Mark Jones was charged with grabbing a woman's wallet on a CTA bus, then hitting her in the head, and running away. Police said he threw the wallet as he fled, leaving behind the victim's money. So what'd he get? Nothing except a charge of robbery, a court date, and $250,000 bail.

Last is the most serious. The FBI is asking us to thelp them find a man who it believes is responsible for at least 4 bank robberies downtown since February. The guy's described as being black and between 5'6" and 5'8" and that's all the info they're releasing. Good luck finding him, FBI. There's only about a million men in Chicago that match that description. We heard there's images of the men in 2 of the banks he robbed, but how about releasing that image to the press? Might help just a little bit!