“Hooded Bandit” Bank Robber Caught After Bank Robbery at US Bank Wood Dale; Identified As Rolling Meadows Man

Wood Dale police responded 11:48 AM Friday to a report of a bank robbery at the US Bank at 333 West Irving Park Road Wood Dale, IL. Two blocks from the bank a Wood Dale police officer spotted an older man driving a car that matched the suspect’s vehicle description — a green 1995 Buick LeSabre. Police were aware that a 1990s Buick sedan was connected to other suburban robberies in the last year-and-a-half.

More photos … “Hooded Bandit” Caught in Wood Dale …

The man in the car was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and scarf, which was covering the lower half of his face. Police conducted a traffic stop after a short pursuit, the man exited his vehicle and “rushed towards the officers while holding a pen in his hand with a black hood wrapped around the pen and his hand.” At the time police weren’t sure what the suspect had in his hand, but a police officer was able to subdue the suspect with a Taser.

Police identified the man as Edward Klich, age 62, of the 3200 block of Peacock Lane. Klich was arrested and charged in federal court Friday with armed robbery. He is likely to be charged with other suburban bank robberies.

Klich was found with $1,874 in the car, although the bank reported $2,354 was taken. The bank teller also reported that the suspect wore a heavy dark jacket with a dark hood pulled up, a dark blue scarf covering part of his face, and dark cloth gloves. The description coincided with bank video surveillance images.

Klich told FBI agents that he drove his wife’s green Buick Le Sabre to U.S. Bank and parked on a street on the east side of the bank. He admitted that he entered the bank and told FBI agents that he told the teller, “This is a robbery. There are two of us. Give me your 100s and 20s.” Clothes found in the car matched images in the bank surveillance video, although the teller couldn’t positively identify Klich because the suspect was shown to the teller without wearing the dark gray jacket he apparently wore in the bank. The jacket had two black lines running down the entire length of the right sleeve and a white line and a black line running across the chest.

Klich admitted to bank robberies at the following locations (initializing surveillance images taken from the following banks):

First Merit Bank, 900 East Higgins Road, Elk Grove Village at 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Chase Bank, 133 West Grand Avenue, Bensenville on April 7, 2014;

Chase Bank, 123 Main Street Bensenville, December 9, 2013;

Charter One Bank, 3901 Kirchoff Road, Rolling Meadows, December 2, 2013;

Charter One Bank, 333 East Irving Park Road, Wood Dale on November 15, 2013;

Charter One Bank, 3901 Kirchoff Road, Rolling Meadows on April 19, 2013;

BMO Harris Bank, 130 West Devon Avenue, Wood Dale on February 15, 2013;

Chase Bank, 2641 Kirchoff Road, Rolling Meadows on July 28, 2011.

Although no weapon was displayed at US Bank, a silver semi-automatic handgun was reported to be associated with the suspect at the February 15, 2013 bank robbery at Harris Bank.

US Bank bought Charter One branches of Citizens Financial and opened them with the US Bank name in June 2014. The Charter One brand still exists in Michigan and Ohio.

Klich had a criminal history of embezzlement of $120,000 from an O’Hare area post office. He served time in federal prison and has been paying off the amount ordered for restitution, which was down to a balance of about $80,000.

LIVE TRAFFIC MAP of neighborhood of US Bank at Irving Park Road and Central Avenue, Wood Dale …

Get updates from The Cardinal CRIME BLOG ‘Plus’ on Facebook. Just ‘LIKE’ the ‘Arlington Cardinal Crime & Forensics’ Page (become a fan of our page). The updates cover all posts in the 24/7 Crime Alerts! and sub-categories. See all of The Cardinal Facebook fan pages at Arlingtoncardinal.com/about/facebook …