‘Bulging Eyes Bandit' Wanted $5K, But Got $60 and Tracker: FBI

BURBANK, IL -- A Chicago man accused of robbing a Burbank bank allegedly told police that he needed “a couple thousand dollars,” but got $60 and a GPS tracker instead. Christopher Lanham, 50, appeared before a federal judge on a charge of bank robbery. New details have emerged of the May 3 bank heist.

According to the federal complaint, Lanham went to the TCF bank branch inside the Jewel-Osco Food Store at 79th Street and Cicero Avenue around 6:15 p.m. May 3. The teller asked Lanham if wished to make a deposit and he unfolded a note which said: “Give me $5,000, I have a gun or I will kill you.” The FBI said Lanham ordered the teller to put the cash into an envelope. The teller took out cash and a GPS tracker into the envelope. Lanham grabbed the envelope and ran out of the store, the feds said. Meanwhile, another teller realizing the bank was being robbed called 911.

The teller told Burbank police she handed what appeared to be $140, but in reality, was actually $80 and a GPS tracker. She described the purported bandit as a thin, white male with indentations on either side of his face with “bulging eyes.” The suspect wore two hats, a dark jacket and no gloves.

A witness outside a nearby bakery told Burbank police that he saw man leaving the dumpster behind a pizza joint a few hundred feet away from the TCF bank branch and Jewel store. The officer found the broken tracker, a ripped up twenty dollar bill and a rubber band. Also found by the dumpster was a pair jeans with belt, a hat, dark red cotton jacket and a blue polyester headband that matched the clothing of the alleged bandit from surveillance video.

As FBI agents and suburban task force officers investigated the scene, an alert Orland Park police officer recognized Lanham from a retail theft arrest in December 2017. The teller was also able to identify Lanham from a photo array, the FBI said.

Chicago police arrested Lanham in the 6800 block of South Maplewood later in the evening of May 3. He was brought to the Burbank police station where he was interviewed by FBI agents. Lanham allegedly told the law he thought he would get away with the money. According to the complaint, Lanham said he needed a couple of thousand dollars, but “everything didn’t go that way.” Lanham told the FBI that he “went to wrong bank [because] there were tracers on [the money] and I think that’s how detectives found me.”

The FBI said that Lanham also identified himself in bank surveillance photos, saying, “looks like me, don’t it.” The total heist was $60, according to the complaint. A federal judge ordered Lanham to be detained.