Chicago Man Gets 20 Years For Evergreen Park, Chicago Bank Heists

CHICAGO — A Chicago man was sentenced to 20 years in a federal prison after a brief and violent bank robbery spree in Evergreen Park and Chicago, where he was accused of robbing three banks at gunpoint in 2020 and 2021.

The FBI said that Christopher Porter, 53, Porter menaced bank employees and customers. Porter is said to have pointed a gun at tellers and customers in all of the robberies. In the third and final robbery, Porter allegedly put a customer in a headlock and pointed a gun at the back of his head, then pinned him against a wall.

The afternoon of Nov. 13, 2020, wearing a white facemask, hat, dark jacket, gloves and light colored jeans, the FBI said Porter walked into the Citibank branch at 9449 S. Western Ave. in Evergreen Park. The teller was assisting a customer when Porter bypassed the line and tossed a reusable grocery bag across the counter. Porter is alleged to have told her to fill the bag.

She put the money in the bag as Porter is said to have moved to the next teller station. The entire time, the FBI said, Porter kept demanding more money, pointing his gun at the teller and customers. Once the reusable bag was filled with money, he left the bank.

The next month, federal authorities said Porter robbed the Chase bank branch at 5134 N. Clark St., on Dec. 20, 2022, and on Feb. 4, 2021, he robbed the Fifth Third Bank, 3957 W. 26th St., both in Chicago.

Porter was identified through bank surveillance video, and video gathered from nearby businesses and police POD cameras.

After the Fifth Third Bank robbery, the FBI located Porter’s vehicle in the 1300 block of West 15th Street in Chicago, at an apartment complex. Porte exited the apartment complex in the early evening and walked toward his vehicle. Federal authorities said he also appeared to be wearing the same clothes he wore during the bank robbery earlier in the day.

FBI special agents approached Porter and placed him under arrest. Found in his pockets was $4,824. The feds also found a Chicago Bears face mask worn at the Fifth Third Bank robbery, the complaint said.

In 2022, a federal jury in 2022 convicted Porter of all three robberies, as well as a firearm charge. U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman sentenced Porter to 20 years in a federal correctional facility Thursday during a hearing in federal court in Chicago.

“[The] “Defendant terrorized innocent bank tellers and customers,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas P. Peabody and Paige A. Nutini argued to the Court at sentencing. “His short spree of bank robberies was serious, violent, criminal conduct.”