The "lunchbag bandit" can't seem to keep his hands out of thecookie jar - or the paper bags he's known to stuff his loot in,police said. He's had more success staying out of jail.
Sharkey Elam - the man known for using lunchbags during allegedone-man robbery sprees, then getting out of jail to do it again - isback, authorities said.
This time, authorities have charged him with the July 21 robberyof Superior Bank at 150 S. Wacker. He also is suspected of robbingthree other banks - two on Thursday, U.S. Attorney James Burns said.
The slightly balding, slightly graying man with theplastic-framed prescription glasses was in court Friday to answer thenew charges in U.S. District Court.
In 1993, he robbed five banks in one week - while on parole forrobbing four others in a three-week stretch. He was given the"lunchbag bandit" nickname because he put the cash he stole in paperbags.
He was known as the "pot-bellied bandit" when he was convictedin a string of noon-hour robberies in 1989.
Elam, who is also charged with parole violations, was deniedbail Friday and will likely face a detention hearing Tuesday. U.S.Magistrate Joan Lefkow agreed that Elam was a flight risk.
Prosecutors said it is too soon to say if they will charge Elamunder the federal "three-strikes" law. The law mandates a lifesentence for a person convicted on three charges involving violence.
Elam could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine onthe current robbery charge.
Elam had been in a Salvation Army halfway house after servingpart of a nearly four-year sentence for the five Chicago bankrobberies in 1993.
He could have been sentenced to more than seven years then, buta judge said he went light on Elam for reasons he could not discuss.
According to the FBI, a man matching Elam's description enteredSuperior Bank on July 21, placed a paper bag on the counter and kepthis hand in the bag.
"Hurry up, give me the money," the robber said, according to anaffidavit. "If anything goes off, I'll kill you."
Video captured the suspect and the teller told police that thesuspect placed a paper bag on the counter and kept his hand in it.
The robber fled with $8,670. FBI officials arrested Elam at theNew Ritz hotel, 300 N. Central, at 11 p.m. Thursday. Agents saidthey recovered $3,400 in cash in the hotel room. They did not saywhat happened to the rest of the money.
Elam is suspected in three other bank jobs: one on Monday atCitibank, 539 N. Michigan, and two on Thursday: at Water Tower Bank,717 N. Michigan, and at North Community Bank, 3180 N. Broadway.
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