U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation
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U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation |
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| In Reply, Please Refer to Release No. |
211 West Roosevelt Road Chicago, Illinois 60608 (312) 829 - 1199 |
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September 6, 2006 Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Philip J. Cline, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and Michael F. Sheahan, Cook County Sheriff announced today the arrest of MELVINA COOKE, age 79, whose last known address is 5325 South Hyde Park Avenue in Chicago. COOKE was arrested yesterday morning, without incident, by officers of the CPD following a robbery alarm at a loop bank. COOKE will be charged in a criminal complaint filed later today in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one (1) count of Bank Robbery, which is a felony offense. According to witnesses, COOKE entered the Bank of America branch, located at 33 North Dearborn Street, just before 10:00 AM. She approached a teller and announced a robbery, claiming that she was armed. She then pulled what appeared to be a handgun from a plastic bag that she was carrying and threatened the teller with harm if she wasn't given $30,000. The teller then activated an alarm and walked away from the counter. After standing briefly by the teller line, COOKE exited the bank and departed the area on foot. An alert bank employee followed COOKE from the bank and watched as she entered a nearby drug store. This information was relayed to CPD officers who responded to the alarm. They located COOKE inside the store in possession of a sun visor and coat that she had worn during the attempted robbery, along with a plastic handgun. COOKE was subsequently turned over to the Chicago FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF), who conducted subsequent investigation which led to the filing of the charges in this case. COOKE is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge SidneyI. Schenkier in Chicago at 5:00 PM this afternoon, at which time she will be formally charged. If convicted of the charges to be filed against her, COOKE faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years incarceration. The Chicago FBI's VCTF is comprised of FBI Special Agents, Detectives from the CPD and Investigators from the Cook County Sheriff's Department. The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. EDITOR'S NOTE:
A copy of the complaint filed against COOKE
will be available from the Chicago FBI Press Office at (312) 829-1199. |
