A Chicago man who was charged with robbing U.S. Bank in Oak Park last Thursday was caught by the FBI later that day and is suspected in as many as five other bank robberies in the Chicago area since Sept 13.
Odell Wright, 27, of 1540 North Laramie, Chicago, has been charged with entering the U.S. Bank at 104 N. Oak Park Ave. just after 2 p.m., displaying a 9 mm semiautomatic machine pistol and ordering a bank teller to hand over cash or be shot.
After the teller gave Wright just under $1,000, Wright ordered the three to four employees in the bank to turn and face away from the bank’s entrance before he fled. No customers were in the bank at the time of the robbery and the stolen money did not contain a dye pack, according to Oak Park Police Cmdr. Robert Scianna.
Oak Park police searched the area for the robber but were unable to locate him. His description, captured on the bank’s security cameras, was turned over to the FBI
Wright’s home was already under surveillance by the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force, which was investigating him in connection with several other bank hold-ups in recent weeks.
Authorities narrowed in on Wright’s home after a man who robbed the TCF bank at 3400 N. Western Ave. left a jacket at the scene with a dry cleaner’s tag that read “O. Wright.”
“It was basically just a receipt attached to his jacket, on his collar,” said FBI spokesperson Carrie McCune. “A dye pack had gone off and got all over his jacket. He took off his jacket, as well as his hat, and began running,” said McCune.
As FBI task force members observed him leaving his home on Thursday at about 4 p.m., he was seen wearing a light colored baseball cap, a Celtics jacket and blue jeans – the same clothing worn by the Oak Park robber.
Wright attempted to flee when confronted by FBI officers, but he was apprehended after a brief foot chase.
According to McCune, Wright is suspected of robbing as many as five banks since Sept. 13, including the Fifth-Third Bank at 2500 S. Cicero Ave. in Chicago on Sept. 13; Bank One at 3240 W. Roosevelt Rd. in Chicago on Sept. 18; the Fifth-Third Bank at 7112 W. Cermak Rd. in Berwyn on Sept. 27 and the TCF Bank at 3400 N. Western Ave., in Chicago on Oct. 21.
No shots were fired and no injuries were reported in any of the robberies Wright is suspected in.
Wright appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown in Chicago on Oct. 25 and was held without bond.
The U.S. Bank in Oak Park was last robbed at gunpoint on April 17. The robber, who made off with approximately $6,000, is still at large, said to Scianna.
