(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — It sounds like Robert Redford’s “The Old Man and the Gun” movie from a few years ago or, maybe, an old George Burns film from the 1970s: An 83-year-old man named Donald Bennett has been arrested and accused in a string of heists in the Chicago area.
The FBI connected Bennett to seven bank robberies, at least one of which included an accomplice. The most recent robbery happened on Valentine’s Day at a Chase Bank in Hickory Hills.
Arthur Lurigio, a professor of criminology and psychology at Loyola University, told CBS 2 Bennett’s alleged accomplice is 55-year-old Edward Binert.
“[Bennett’s] developed some sense of bravado and still has it burning inside, at age 83, with a younger but still elderly accomplice,” Lurigio said.
He added that the two suspects in this bank robbery spree likely regarded themselves as professionals.
“They’re in the same geographic area because they have familiarity with it, and they feel that they have the ability to carry out those activities successfully,” he said.
The 83-year-old Bennett was once known as the “leaping bandit” for a series of heists, including five bank robberies, in 1987 in the Chicago area.
According to a Tribune article from his 1989 sentencing, Bennett was arrested after an off-duty police sergeant — who lived across the street from one of the banks Bennett robbed — took note of what turned out to be getaway car while he was out raking leaves.
The report goes on to say that a police officer, who presumed Bennett would be an old man by the time he got out of prison, asked him what he would do after his eventual release. In response, Bennett reportedly said: “Jump counters again, but it probably won’t be as easy.”
He was released in April 2020 after serving 31 years of what was originally a 50-year prison sentence.
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