Joliet Bank Robbery Suspects Charged

Vernell Butler (left), Joshua Gemmell. Credit: Will County Sheriff’s Office

Two Joliet men have been charged with one count each of bank robbery stemming from an incident at the Merchants & Manufacturers Bank, 990 Essington Rd., on Tuesday.

Vernell Butler, 40, of the 100 block of Davison, and Joshua Gemmell, 26, of the 600 block of Elmwood, were arrested by Joliet police after a car and foot pursuit on Tuesday, according to jail records.

The robbery was reported at 10:29 a.m. after one of the suspects entered the bank and demanded money from three bank employees, the FBI said. The man, described by one teller as wearing a “Panama Jack” hat and sunglasses, allegedly told staff, “I want all the money in the bag.” He then took a black plastic bag out of his pocket and held it out to the tellers, according to the FBI complaint. Tellers placed $13,609 in cash into the bag and gave it to the suspect, who left the bank and got into a vehicle waiting outside, according to the FBI.

The pair reportedly fled the bank in a white car, and allegedly attempted to make a run for it when police tried to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle in the 1500 block of Larkin Avenue, police said.

The suspects were eventually found hiding in two yards in the 1000 block of Vine Street and taken into custody on charges of fleeing, eluding and obstructing police, police said.

According to the FBI complaint, Butler was found carrying a black plastic bag filled with cash, including bills with serial numbers matching those on bills placed in the bag by bank employees. A bank staffer was also able to identify the white Mercury Sable used by the duo as the car the employee had seen leaving the bank after the robbery, the FBI said.

The complaint also states that bank surveillance video shows the suspect entering the bank wearing a white hat with a wide brim and black band, and sunglasses. A search of the Mercury Sable, which is registered to Butler, turned up white hat matching the one seen in the video, a BB gun and a dark-colored wig, according to the complaint.

The FBI on Tuesday said there is no indication that the Joliet robbery is connected to an armed robbery a day earlier in Bolingbrook in which a teller was shot. The FBI described the suspect in the Bolingbrook robbery as a black male, roughly 6 feet tall and weighing 190 pounds, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, jeans, a red Chicago Bulls baseball hat and a black bandana with white markings.

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