Rare News Desk
According to court documents, a 52-year-old parolee informed the FBI he was ordered to commit robberies to pay back a debt owed to a local gang.
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According to a Chicago Tribune report, Alonzo Turner been accused of robbing two Northwest Side banks and was arrested at his Chicago home on Monday by the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force in relation with two bank robberies that occurred on Aug. 2.
According to FBI special agent Garrett Croon, Turner entered a U.S. Bank branch in the Belmont Central neighborhood at 5850 W. Belmont Ave. on Aug. 2, where he displayed the following note to the teller:
“This is a bank robbery. No trick, no alarm, no dye pack. I have a gun. I been following you for 3 days. I know all about you. Family, where you live etc. Money now.”
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The Tribune reported the teller proceeded to give Turner all of the $10 bills in the cash drawer, Turner leaving with $310 according to an affidavit filed in the case.
According to the charges against him, on Aug. 4, Turner walked into a Galewood Bank of America at 7126 W. North Ave. in Galewood where he asked a teller to exchange a stack of $1 bills for a larger denomination.
Turner proceeded to pass along a second, similar note and left that bank with $680 according to the Tribune.
The FBI received calls from multiple people who suggested the surveillance images from the banks resembled Turner, including his parole officer, according to the news outlet. The bank tellers were also able to identify him in photo lineups.
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The Tribune reports Turner has a long criminal history going back to the 1990s and was most recently convicted of burglary in 2012 and sentenced to nine years in prison and paroled in March 2017.
On Jan. 23, he was met by FBI agents at his last parole check-in, according to the news outlet. When he was pressed about the robberies, Turner admitted to committing both of them.
Turner then proceeded to tell the authorities that the Four Corner Hustlers gang were convinced that he owed them money and told him to rob banks to pay off his debt, the complaint says. Turner continued saying several gang members drove him to banks and wrote the threatening notes he showed the tellers, according to the news outlet. Turner has been charged in federal court with bank robbery, a federal judge ordered his arrest on Monday.
Turner’s next court hearing is Thursday.
