CRIME
Elderly Bank Robber Back In Jail On Suspicion Of Recent Heists In Chicago Area
FBI
An elderly bank robber is back in jail for another series of alleged holdups after serving decades in prison for a string of bank robberies in the 1980s.
Donald “Doc” Bennett, an 83-year-old once known as the Leaping Bandit for his habit of leaping over bank counters, was arrested last week and charged with robbing a Chase Bank in Chicago on Feb. 14. According to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI, Bennett donned a wig and flashed a gun in the Valentine’s Day heist, walking away with around $7,000.
Bennett and an accomplice he met while in prison, 55-year-old Edward Binert, were linked to the robbery due to allegedly using their real names to rent the getaway car.
Bennett was also linked to several other robberies of Chase and Fifth Third Banks dating to last summer, per reports. In an Aug. 25, 2023, robbery at another Chase Bank branch, Bennett is suspected of wearing his signature wig under a baseball cap along with a surgical mask and getting away with $30,886.
“I know that six of the seven bank robberies have the following similarities: the robber was a single older white male wearing a face covering, who brandished a handgun; the robber demanded bank funds from a teller; and a rental vehicle was used as the getaway vehicle,” an FBI agent alleged in the criminal complaint.
Both Bennett and Binert were arrested at Binert’s home in Oak Lawn, Ill. Authorities seized weapons, a brown wig, Illinois license plates and shrink-wrapped cash believed to be stolen.
In the 1980s, Bennett wore wigs during a string of bank Chicago-area robberies for which he was ultimately convicted in 1989. He served 31 years of a 50-year prison sentence and was released in 2020. Before that, the FBI said he was convicted of bank robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in Kentucky in 1967, and sentenced to 24 years.
TMX contributed to this article.
