Skokie Man On Probation For Robbing Bank Charged In Bank Robbery

CHICAGO — A Skokie man who previously pleaded guilty to robbing banks in Northbrook and El Paso, Texas, has been charged with last week's robbery of a bank in Wilmette, records show.

Reiquon Gaines, 24, an Evanston Township High School alum, is accused of stealing $7,900 in cash from the Bank of America branch at 171 Green Bay Road shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 15. According to the FBI, there was only one teller working at the bank at the time.

"Where's the money? Where's the money?" the robber said, according to an affidavit in support of the charges from FBI agent Herbert Hogberg. He jumped over the counter at one of the teller stations.

"Give me the money," he told the teller, who had become scared for their safety, according to the FBI affidavit. "Where's the other tellers?"

"Just me," the teller replied, the affidavit said. The robber fled after hearing another bank employee. A teller saw him headed through the bank parking lot toward an alley, and surveillance video confirmed the robber took off running southwest into an alley right after the robbery.

According to the FBI, investigators got tips from at least two people who said they saw photos of robber in a news article about the incident and recognized Gaines. One of the tipsters was a family member who recognized Gaines' clothes in the photo. Another was a former high school classmate who was aware of Gaines' history of bank robberies.

Gaines was also identified by his probation officer and the teller at the Wilmette bank, Hogberg said in his affidavit.

Earlier: Man Jumps Counter, Robs Wilmette Bank, FBI Says

Federal court records show a warrant for Gaines' arrest was issued on Jan. 17, 2020. The next day, DeKalb police pulled him over in the 1000 block of West Hilcrest Drive and discovered the warrant while checking his ID. After an officer asked him to turn off the car, Gaines sped away at more than 60 mph, running a stop sign and crashing with his 3-year-old child in the car. He took off running but was taken into custody nearby on Garden Road, according to police.

The arresting officer said Gaines then tried to offer him a $10,000 bribe to let him go as he was being taken to the police station.

Gaines was charged with bribery, aggravated fleeing police, child endangerment, reckless driving and resisting arrest in DuPage County before being turned over to federal custody, according to court records.

Court records show Gaines was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison after admitting in 2017 that he participated in several bank robberies the year before. Federal prosecutors in Texas dismissed two additional indictment relating to other robberies at the time of his guilty plea.

Gaines pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting bank robberies at United Bank of El Paso Del Norte in El Paso, Texas, in September 2016, and the Texas Partners Federal Credit Union in Copperas Cove, Texas, and a Fifth Third Bank in Northbrook in November 2016. Authorities said Gaines drove the getaway car in all three robberies.

According to court records, he and two co-defendants were taken by investigators who noticed videos one of them posted on social media throwing money in the air, laying on piles of cash and holding a bundle of bills up to his ear while pretending to be a telephone.

At a sentencing hearing in January 2018 before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, defense attorney Rebecca Reyes said Gaines was struggling with addiction.

"He comes from an area in Chicago where there was a lot of drugs around," Reyes said. "He started using drugs at 9 years of age — marijuana and alcohol. During his adolescent years, he did use ecstasy and then was introduced to codeine." She said Gaines had been a daily user for several years of what "colloquially is called, 'lean,' your Honor."

Gaines' attorney said he had grown up without a father and exposed to drug dealing. He had an attentive mother and excelled at spots, Reyes said, but there was always a "pull that would keep him off the straight and narrow."

In 2014, Gaines played wide receiver with the Evanston Township High School football team and volunteered with Community Partners for Affordable Housing, according to past reports. But he began losing interest in school and spending more time in the streets during in his final year of high school, according to his attorney.

His mother sent him to Kileen, Texas, Reyes said. Gaines then became involved with co-defendants Jerrious Jackson and Shawn Williams and started robbing banks. Jackson also joined Gaines to rob a Northbrook Fifth Third Bank on Nov. 21, 2016, five days after the Copperas Cove robbery, records show.

"It's not an excuse that he lives in this culture of criminality, but I think that he's young enough that he can break this and turn away from that community," Reyes said.

Gaines told the judge he wanted to take full responsibility for the crimes he was pleading guilty to at his sentencing hearing nearly two years ago.

"I just ask that you see past the foolishness of which I took part in and see me for what I really am," he said. "That's it."

"Well, who are you?" Cardone asked. "I heard Ms. Reyes talk about your upbringing and some of the challenges you've had and the drugs. But it's not like it happened once or twice — you just kept making bad decisions. So tell me about yourself. Why did you think this was a good idea? Was it just fun?"

"I didn't see it as something I was excited [about,]" he said. "I was kind of in a bad place at the time, and I just found myself doing whatever it took to get by."

"So what are your plans?" the judge asked.

Gaines said he wanted to serve his time and return to his young daughter and be a good father for her.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg McDonald recommended a sentence within the guideline range of 30 to 37 months.

"The conduct was especially egregious, with not just the physical nature of the robberies, but the bragging and posting about it on Facebook and Snapchat and flashing the cash afterwards demonstrated a real lack of appreciation for the seriousness of the offense," McDonald said.

Cardone sentenced Gaines to 30 months in federal prison followed by three years of mandatory supervised release. Six months later in Illinois, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman sentenced Gaines to a shorter, concurrent sentence for the Northbrook robbery.

"You can commit no future crimes against the United States or any state or local government," Cardone said, explaining the terms of his sentence, which required vocational training and a cognitive behavioral program. "You're a young man, you have your whole life ahead of you and I want you to start making good choices."

Currently held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, Gaines is due to appear before U.S. District Judge M. David Weisman for a detention hearing on Jan. 27.