A man has been charged with the brazen act of robbing a Citibank branch located in downtown Chicago not once, but twice within two weeks. Jason Paniagua, identified as the suspect, reportedly hit the Citibank at 69 W. Washington St. right across from Daley Plaza, according to CBS Chicago. The charges state that the first instance occurred on March 27 and the second on April 8, closely following one another.
During the March 27 robbery, Paniagua, who had recently lost his job at Walmart, walked into the bank and demanded money from a teller with a tap of his hand on the counter, indicating urgency with a threat of "three seconds." Despite the fear of a concealed gun, the teller gave Paniagua $340 from the top drawer. After the heist, Paniagua veered into a nearby synagogue, changed his clothes, and flagged down a cab at a hotel, which delivered him to a liquor store in Harvey and then to the Starlite Motel in South Holland. The intrepid owner of the liquor store alerted the FBI after spotting the suspect, which led to Paniagua's identification but not his immediate arrest, as per CBS Chicago's account.
Interestingly, the suspect struck again on April 8, this time brandishing a seemingly weaponized cardboard toilet paper roll wrapped in intentions of deceit. This episode had Paniagua walking away with a mere $100 comprised entirely of $5 bills. A vigilant bank manager saw Paniagua hop into a white taxi and passed on crucial information to the arriving police, leading to the suspect's swift capture with the ill-gotten $50 still on his person and another $50 in the taxi driver's possession as fare, CBS Chicago reported.
The recent events echo a separate incident reported by ABC 7 Chicago where the FBI is looking for a suspect in yet another robbery at the same Citibank branch. It appears that the culprit demanded money while suggesting they were armed, striking at approximately 12:39 p.m. The suspect's description was detailed down to the denim pants and light hoodie, covering their identity with reflective sunglasses and a medical mask. While the FBI has withheld further information pending the investigation, they've urged the public to relay any tips that could help apprehend the suspect responsible for causing unease in the nerve center of Chicago's financial district.
After a court appearance on April 9, Paniagua's story will proceed to a detention hearing slated for April 17. While he admitted to the April 8 robbery, citing financial desperation due to his recent unemployment, he denied involvement in the March 27 event. These repeated hits at the heart of the Loop's financial hub spotlight a tragic interplay between the desperation wrought by personal economic collapse and society’s ever-pervasive specter of crime.
