By Rosemary R. Sobol, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — A GPS tracking device is responsible for the capture — less than a half an hour after the crime — of a 29-year-old man accused of making off with more than $7,000 during a bank robbery in Aurora, Ill., on Saturday, authorities said.
A U.S. Magistrate Judge on Monday ordered Miguel A. Ramirez, of Aurora, held after he was charged in a criminal complaint with one count of bank robbery, according to FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde.
Ramirez robbed a PNC Bank, but was taken into custody a short while after the heist, according to Hyde.
About 9:15 a.m. CDT, Ramirez placed a withdrawal slip with the words “all the money” written on it on a teller counter and pulled out a weapon that authorities later learned was a BB gun, according to the complaint.
The teller could not read the slip, so Ramirez whispered: “Give me all your money,” according to the complaint.
The teller complied and placed $7,026 into a gray plastic bag he’d brought with him. He took the note and bag and placed the gun back in his waistband before running out of the bank, the complaint said.
A GPS tracking device was included in the “bait money” he was given, according to the complaint.
The bank’s video surveillance system captured images of the robbery and, about 9:35 a.m., the GPS led authorities to the vicinity of an unoccupied Ford Bronco parked at a BP gas station pump in Oswego, the complaint said.
A law enforcement officer saw the gray money bag and then recognized Ramirez inside the BP store. When Ramirez saw them, he turned quickly and appeared to begin talking on a cellphone.
He was detained after leaving the store and authorities found, inside the Bronco, the clothing he’d been wearing during the heist.
Ramirez is scheduled to appear in court again Wednesday, Hyde said.