Wilmette robbery probe continues


March 23, 2010

By KIMBERLY FORNEK kfornek@pioneerlocal.com

Federal officials claim that two people arrested last week for allegedly robbing a Wilmette bank of about $120,000 planned the crime with the help of one of the bank's tellers, according to the FBI.

Sefer Hodzic, 32, whose last known address was 2308 W. Granville Ave., Chicago, was arrested March 18 and charged in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one felony count of bank robbery in connection with the April 4, 2009, holdup of the Fifth Third Bank, at 1255 Green Bay Road.

Mario Besic, 37, of Lincoln, Neb., who was in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Omaha, was arrested March 17 in connection with the same crime.

According to the FBI in an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, a teller at Fifth Third owed Hodzic money. In about February 2009, Hodzic started pressuring the teller to repay the debt. The complaint does not reveal how much money was borrowed or why. But the FBI alleges Hodzic wanted the teller (whom the FBI did not identify) to use his or her position at the bank to help him and his associates rob the bank.

Teller aiding probe
The complaint claims Besic asked the bank employee detailed questions about the bank's alarms, security camera system, security codes, safe deposit boxes and other operational information. For providing the information and participating in the crime, the teller would receive a third of the money they stole, according to the complaint.

The four planned that Besic and another man would enter the bank, located on Green Bay Road near Greenwood Avenue, while Hodzic waited in his car a block away. The robbers would tie up a teller with plastic ties so the teller, who was not in on the crime, could not trigger any alarms.

They agreed Besic would strike the employee they knew in the head to avoid suspicions the robbery was a set-up, according to the complaint.

The group tried to rob the bank more than once before they were successful. On March 7, for example, it was raining and the robbers carried umbrellas to shield their faces when they arrived at the bank at opening time, 9 a.m. But the door was still locked, so they left.

Returned at closing
They rescheduled the robbery for Saturday, April 4, 2009 and planned to arrive at 1 p.m., the bank's Saturday closing time.

According to the teller, who was in cahoots with the suspects, two men wearing hooded sweatshirts entered the bank at about 12:55 p.m. The employee recognized their voices as those of Besic and the other man he or she had met, according to the complaint.

The employee saw Hodzic's white Mercedes parked by a restaurant across the street from the bank. Hodzic was supposed to intercept any customers who might try to enter the bank while the robbery was in progress.

Besic told the teller who was their accomplice to punch in his or her code to open a small vault behind the teller counter. The robber with Besic tied up the other teller with white plastic ties and had her reveal her half of the code to complete the password code needed to open the vault. Besic got the money from the vault. Then he, the two tellers and the other robber went to the basement where the teller who the robbers knew used his or her code and the other teller's code to open the bank's large vault. During this time, Besic was hitting the teller he knew in the head with his open hand. Besic and the other robber put the money from the basement vault in a bag and in their pockets. Besic then tied up the teller he knew, and the two robbers left the bank, according to the complaint.

An audit conducted after the bank determined $119,523 was missing.

Denial at first
The FBI reported that when the cooperating teller was first interviewed on April 4, the teller denied knowing the robbers and denied any involvement in the crime. But after the teller consented to a search of his or her car, FBI agents found private account information for Fifth Third Bank customers. On April 6, the cooperating teller took a polygraph test and answered questions about the robbery. Agents told the teller the polygraph indicated his or her answers were "deceptive."

The FBI reported the teller then admitted lying about his or her involvement in the crime. The teller told investigators Hodzic had planned the robbery, and the teller identified Besic from six photographs the FBI presented, as one of the men who had robbed the bank.

The other robber in the bank has not yet been identified, said FBI spokesman Ross Rice.

"Our investigation into who this person is and where they are is ongoing," he said.

The teller who helped the robbers plan the crime had not been arrested or charged with any crimes as of Tuesday, Rice said. The teller is cooperating, the criminal complaint states, because he or she was told that the U.S. Attorney's Office, which will decide what charges will be filed, and the judge who would sentence the teller, will be told about the "extent and nature of his or her cooperation."

The teller has no known criminal history, officials said.

Immigration and Customs is planning to deport Besic to Bosnia-Herzegovina, his native country. Hodzic is in federal custody with a detention hearing scheduled for March 24 in Chicago.


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