CHICAGO – The FBI says a man who robbed three banks this month told arresting officers he did it so he could buy holiday gifts. But according to a federal complaint, he told a bank employee he did so because he was far behind on his rent payments.
Davell Luster, 55, is formally charged this week with robbing a bank in Morgan Park, but an FBI agent’s complaint linked him to two additional robberies since Dec. 3, one of which allegedly netted him just $93, yielded 97.
Luster reportedly did much better than that during his first robbery of PNC Bank, 8700 South Cottage Grove, on December 3. The FBI agent said he sat down with a banker to discuss a loan, but the loan officer became suspicious because Luster offered short, vague, one-word answers to their questions.
“I know the protocols,” Lustre allegedly stated at one point, demanding $5,000 and saying he knew the banker had to give him money.
“There are people watching the branch,” he told the banker as he reached into his pocket and said he didn’t want anyone to get hurt, according to the FBI complaint.
He eventually walked out with $5,000 cash, but warned the banker not to call anyone about the robbery for an hour.
A week later, on Dec. 10, Luster netted a measly $93.97 when he robbed Chase Bank, 712 East 87th, in Chatham, the FBI agent said. While discussing loan options with Lustre, a banker noticed he was wearing black rubber gloves.
“I demand $10,000. I have a gun,” Luster allegedly announced, explaining that he was $9,500 behind on his rent.
The FBI agent said the banker advised Luster to leave because he had not yet committed a robbery, but Luster persisted and eventually got away with the meager sum. Again he allegedly told the bank employees to wait an hour before calling the police.
Finally, around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, Luster entered PNC Bank, 10701 South Western, and told the greeter he wanted to speak to someone about a mortgage, the FBI agent alleged. There were no loan officers at the bank at the time, so the clerk gave Luster a pen and notebook to write down his contact information.
When Luster returned the paper, a request note was allegedly written on the notepad: “Charles Richland. I’m not REALLY here for this. I want $5,000 with all this ASK. DO NOT encounter a silent alarm until I leave in 3 hours AND head back west. KEEP ALL Causal NO signs or warnings.
As the bank teller read the note, Luster allegedly told them, “I only want $5,000.” The officer said one of the bank tellers put a GPS tracker in a stack of cash, which they handed over to Lustre.
Chicago police followed the tracker’s signal and arrested Luster on a Pace van about two blocks north of the bank. They said they immediately suspected he was the robber because he was wearing the same clothes as the robber and he had a lot of money in his hands. The FBI agent reported that Luster had $8,258 on him at the time of his arrest.
He initially declined to speak with detectives at police headquarters in Area Two, the FBI agent said. But about 15 minutes after asking for a lawyer, Luster told a detective he wanted to speak with them. He subsequently confessed to all three robberies, according to the FBI agent’s complaint.
The officer said Luster told police he was “under stress and trying to buy people holiday gifts.”
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