Bank Robber From Joliet Must Repay $160 In Restitution, 20-Year Federal Prison For New Lenox Auto Dealer

JOLIET, IL — Victor Barakat's days of robbing banks has come to an end — at least for the next 20 years. The 51-year-old Joliet man who ran a used car dealership in New Lenox has been sentenced to 20 years of federal prison time for Barakat's bank robbery at the Fifth Third Bank in Rolling Meadows. Barakat also brandished a loaded 9-millimeter pistol, trying to fire the gun at Sgt. Christopher D'Arcy, who was supervising the Joliet police stakeout to capture the bank robbery suspect back in February 2023.

Barakat's crime spree included a series of mishaps. Inside the Rolling Meadows bank. In 2023, Patch reported that Barakat stole just $224 from a Fifth Third bank teller, and surveillance video showed he dropped $64 of that on the floor before leaving the bank. He also left his smartphone on the counter.

As a result at last week's federal sentencing, Barakat was only ordered to repay $160 in restitution to the home offices of the Fifth Third Bank financial institution based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It wasn't the first time he left behind something that led back to him at a robbery scene. In 2002 — also in Rolling Meadows, while robbing a TCF bank inside a Jewel-Osco store — he left behind a jacket containing a Rent-A-Center store receipt with his name on it.

The 2023 federal indictment sought forfeiture of any firearm and ammunition involved in and used in the charged offenses, including the Kimber Solo Carry 9mm pistol bearing serial number S1110818 and associated ammunition, noted U.S. District Judge John Tharp. The sentencing judge also made the following recommendations to the Bureau of Prisons: assignment to a facility as close to Dallas, Texas as possible.

According to federal court records, Victor Barakat was born on May 7, 1975, in Chicago. His parents, Victor and Najwa, are now 80 years old and reside in McKinney, Texas. His father is a retired business owner and project manager, and his mother was a homemaker and teacher and is now retired as well.

Judge Tharp's sentence indicates Barakat is being sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to be imprisoned for a total term of 240 months. This past summer, the Joliet resident pleaded guilty to two of his three federal charges, bank robbery by intimidation and convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Before his arrest for the February 2023 bank robbery, Barakat owned the small used car dealership KB Motors on Schoolhouse Road in New Lenox.

"In his late twenties, defendant Victor Barakat robbed five different businesses, each time holding up an employee of that business at gunpoint and threatening to shoot them. He was sentenced to 162 total months’ imprisonment for those robberies," argued Chicago-based U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros in seeking a 270-month federal sentence. "Yet, despite spending over a decade of his life, and almost all of his thirties in prison for those violent crimes, on February 8, 2023, defendant, once again, chose to rob two employees of a Fifth Third Bank in Rolling Meadows at gunpoint. Then, when law enforcement came to his door five days later, on February 13, he pulled out that gun in an attempt to harm them."

In February 2023, several Joliet police converged around the Timber Pointe Drive condominium of the Rolling Meadows bank robbery suspect.

As Joliet Police Sgt. Chris D'Arcy and another officer tried to take the New Lenox used car salesman into custody after introducing themselves at his front door, Barakat pulled his semi-automatic pistol out of his pants pocket.

Joliet police body camera video of the dramatic incident showed Barakat's gun click, but the bank robbery suspect did not have a bullet in the chamber.

"Once on the ground, I could see that Barakat's finger was still in the trigger well of the pistol. I was able to wrestle the pistol out of Barakat's grip and threw the pistol away from him," Sgt. D'Arcy explained in his police report.

As Joliet Patch reported in 2023, after two Joliet officers had Barakat handcuffed against the back of a squad car, Officer Allen Pina hollered, "My gun!"

"Victor, stop it!" Sgt. D'Arcy announced. "Victor, listen to me."

"My shoulder. My shoulder," Barakat screamed. "You broke my shoulder."

"OK, relax," D'Arcy replied. "Don't be reaching for a cop's gun, you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Stop it. It's all over. Stop it, okay?"

"Okay."

"Do you need an ambulance?"

"Yes, my shoulder hurts."

"Okay," D'Arcy responds. "No more of these shenanigans. You understand me?"

"All right."

"Because that's how people get hurt. So knock it off!"

Ever since 2023, Barakat has remained in federal lockup at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on West Van Buren in Chicago. Although the Will County State's Attorney's Office filed attempted murder charges against Barakat for the attempt upon the life of Sgt. D'Arcy and trying to disarm Officer Pina, Barakat's criminal case in Will County has taken a backseat to the federal case.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

3 Prior Bank Robberies: Used Car Dealer Served Federal Prison Time

Bank Robbed By New Lenox Car Dealer Who Tried Shooting Joliet Cop: FBI

Bank Robbery Suspect Tries To Shoot Joliet Police Officer: English