CHICAGO — The man who robbed a Loop bank Thursday afternoon unknowingly grabbed a GPS tracker as he grabbed money from a cash register drawer, a mistake that would lead to his arrest less than an hour later.
“I did it,” Andrew Garland allegedly told FBI agents later that evening. “I messed up, but I did it.”
Wearing a neon yellow jacket and a purple COVID mask, Garland entered Huntington Bank, 222 North LaSalle, around 4:40 p.m., according to a federal complaint. He approached a cashier who was holding $4,000 wrapped in bundles of $2,000 each.
“Open the drawer, give me the money,” he allegedly ordered before repeatedly telling the bank employee: “I’m not playing with you.”
Ultimately, the complaint said Garland took the $4,000 from the register and took another $1,050 from their cash drawer. Unbeknownst to Garland, the $1,050 included a pre-packaged GPS tracker.
Chicago police began tracking the device as it moved to the Riverwalk, then to River North and then back through the Loop, according to a map of its movements included in the complaint.
Investigators eventually found Garland lying in the backseat of a taxi at 11th and State with cash lying around, officials said.
“I did it,” Garland allegedly told an FBI agent. ‘I’m sick from the drugs, I’ve been awake for a few days. I need some money. I want to have my own place where I can lay my own head.”
