Skinny jeans bandit

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‘Skinny Jeans Bandit’ nabbed, feds say

Jan 21, 2015 |

(CHICAGO) With his tight jeans and his trademark preppy look, the “Skinny Jeans Bandit” kept making a clean-cut getaway.

But the FBI says the serial bank robber’s stylish crime spree has finally come to an end, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

Now Eric Shepherd is wearing loose-fitting Bureau of Prison scrubs.

The 30-year-old Yorkville man was turned in by a relative and a former co-worker who recognized him from security camera footage released to the media earlier this month, according to a federal complaint filed Monday.

Dubbed the “Skinny Jeans Bandit” by the FBI because of his slim pants, fashionable knitwear and glasses, he was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with the Nov. 21 heist of a BMO Harris Bank in west suburban Carol Stream.

He allegedly took $4,200 cash after passing a threatening note to a teller that stated “This is a bank robbery.”

Though he hasn’t been charged with any other robberies, the feds previously said he was responsible for four more stick-ups in northwest suburban Cary and Grayslake, and in Crown Point and Valparaiso, Ind.

According to the complaint, evidence linking him to the Carol Stream robbery includes a description by a bank teller who picked him out of a photo lineup and commented on his “fancy jeans.”

FBI seeks details on ‘Skinny Jeans Bandit’

Jan 10, 2015 |

Surveillance photo of the suspet who robbed a Fifth Third Bank branch Dec. 8 in Cary. | photo from the FBI

(CROWN POINT, Ind.) Federal authorities are seeking information about a man they’ve dubbed the “Skinny Jeans Bandit,” who is suspected of robbing four banks in the Chicago area and northwest Indiana since November.

The most recent robbery happened Wednesday at the BMO Harris Bank branch at 10705 Broadway in Crown Point, according to the FBI.

Since November, the same man has struck three banks in the west and north suburbs, the FBI said. At least one of those banks was robbed at gunpoint.

He robbed a Chase Bank branch at 975 E. Belvidere Rd. in Grayslake on Dec. 26, according to the FBI. About 5:50 p.m. on Dec. 8, he used a gun to rob a Fifth Third Bank branch at 750 North West Highway in Cary.

The robbery spree began on Nov. 21, when he robbed a BMO Harris Bank branch at 850 W. Army Trail Rd. in Carol Stream, according to the FBI. He also attempted to rob a Chase Bank branch at 2301 Calumet Avenue in Valparaiso, Ind., on Dec. 23, but was unsuccessful.

He is described as a light-skinned black or Hispanic man in his 20s with short, cropped brown hair, a thin mustache and brown eyes, according to the FBI. He’s between 5-foot-9 and 6 feet tall with a smaller build.

He has been dubbed the Skinny Jeans Bandit because of the “preppy” clothes he wears during the heists, including skinny jeans, the FBI said. During the robbery in Cary, he was wearing a dark, zip-up jacket, a button-up shirt and eyeglasses.

Anyone with information about the robberies or the identity of the Skinny Jeans Bandit is asked to contact the FBI’s Merrillville, Ind., office at (219) 769-3719 or the Chicago office at (312) 421-6700.