E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSView more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.
The Chicago office of the FBI announced a $50,000 reward Wednesday for information leading to the apprehension of two escapees from the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Two convicted bank robbers, 37-year-old Jose Banks and 38-year-old Kenneth Conley, were discovered missing Tuesday morning and haven't been seen since. According to the complaint affidavit, Banks and Conley were cellmates and were present during a physical head count at 10 p.m. Monday.
Investigators said the pair used a rope made from bedsheets and other linens to rappel down the side of the building from the cell at the federal jail in the Loop.
It's a bold break that has many questioning how it happened.
When authorities found Banks and Conley missing, they discovered metal window bars in a bed mattress and fake bars inside the cell.
Officials also found clothing in the shape of a body in the bed blankets and the escape rope tied to the bars of the broken window that's believed to be only six inches wide.
Federal agents swarmed a home in Tinley Park Tuesday afternoon after a tip that Conley may have visited family there. They also checked a nearby Metra station and forest preserve, but Banks and Conley are still on the run and may have gotten as much as a nine-hour head start.
Conley was convicted of stealing $4,000 last year from a bank in Homewood. Banks was convicted just last week of four bank heists in which he stole $600,000. Most of that money was not recovered, so the concern is that if Banks has access to cash, they could be far away.
The men are believed to be together and should be considered dangerous.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Heroic Newtown teacher Victoria Soto being buried
- Police radio reveals early moments of Newtown tragedy
- Obama to task Biden to tackle gun violence
- Maryland student committed after 'credible threat' found
- Newtown's agony echoes in Scottish town
- Video:Benghazi report: 'Systemic failures' within State Dept.
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
Sounds like they had inside help. All accountable for that evening should be fired. I'm sure someone is following them without their knowledge and will get the money then turn them in.Well planned out, by who ever helped them.Sounds like a movie. And if they get away. well good for them.Spend it wisely, leave the country!!You can live well in south america with that,find a family to help and they will help you if invested correctly. HAHAHAHA!!
Egg on your face, eh.
One guy was there for stealing $4000, the other guy was there for stealing $600,000...Which had more to gain, which had more to lose? "Uh...no...you go ahead...I'll...uh...just stay here to ...uh...cover for you. Yeah...you go for it ...I'll hang back...thanks though..."
A $50,000 reward will catch these guys and then? Well there won't be any windows where these guys are going.
how could they escape, the windows there are about 9inches wide. neither of them looks like mj or erkel to me.
Good for them if they escaped...shame on the prison guards if someone is harmed while this pair is on the run. My question: why are there no routine checks of the cells throughout the night?
Good for them? Good Lord.
Escape from Alcatraz was my first thought in reading this article. Especially about how they fitted fake bars in the cells. I wonder how they got the REAL bars out.
I hope the cops find these two soon. As violent as they might have been to get themselves arrested and convicted, desperation could make them more so.
I pass by this jail everyday. The windows are 4 inches wide, unreal that they got out and roped down. I am guessing these two are long gone since the one had 500K stashed away from a robbery. Hopefully they catch these two.
"...head count at 10 p.m. Monday."
They buried that one in the third sentence. I don't know if you'll think their break is such a great idea when a driver is killed in a carjack.
the $500,000 will go mostly for booze and to get laid. when the dough runs out they will be turned in my the girls!!
They, like all the white collar banker criminals, should be allowed to say "I'm sorry", and then sent home.
Escape from Obama-traz! Starring Barry O-Bama-Claus and Jo-Jo Biden-My-Time.
To my fellow posters saying, "Good for them"... really?! What part of BANK ROBBERY did you miss? That's not exactly white collar crime kids... Why do we insist on making violent criminals into heroes in this country?
.
Shirley,
No kidding, right? Jeez, I guess that is what fits as cool these days.
Because bad boys get more poon-tang? ***shrug
If you were a woman and had a choice between geek sperm and bad boy sperm, which would you choose? Obviously the bad boys are stronger than geeks. No woman wants a guy who always does things the right way. They tend to want piano church players who never make mistakes as wives.
all the other heros turned out to be bums---armstrong, a-rod, b bonds, et al.
these is the real thugs!!!!!! so hats off. the cops are stupid and fools. everyone of them.
and the firemen in chicago stole a meat slicer from a burning restuarant. firemen steal stuff from a burning building. yeah, real heros alright!!
the burger king at state and chicago. stole the slicer right out of that place. the firement got fired and booted.
so much for ''heros''. and one of those fired was a Lt if i remember right!
the rich kids get away with robbery all the time. remember the banks squandering all your hard earned cash and then getting their multi-million dollar bonuses paid with federal "bailout" money?i think it's high time for some real "class warfare"
Classic, the old bed sheet prison escape. I'm thinking someone forgot to tell them it didn't work in the movies.
uhhh actually, it did
the guys name was Banks?!......gotta be a joke in there somewhere.....wonder if he's got a cousin named 7-Eleven
.
Maybe is related to Tyra Banks, ask her just in case...
Cousin's name is probably Rob.
i haven't seen any change in penny, have you??
Bedsheets.....the F.B.I...It's just about average for our TAX DOLLARS at work....I was under the impression..and I may be wrong often times I am....But I was under the impression..That the F.B.I were...were Professional..you know competent...at there JOBS ..that's what sets them apart from lets..say The Mayberry Police ...or Mall Cops...
Im mean bedsheets..how quaint....
LOL..bet they both volunteer to work in the jail laundry.
The tax dollar for the sheets sure got used to the maximum.
maybe thet should use paper sheets in a jail????????
If I was this Banks guy..I would travel along the banks of a river south..there be a lot snow banks in Chicago area to leave tracks soon.
He's better off just hitting the banks on a pool table in hiding all day, instead of robbing more banks for now.
TV commercial...Our bedsheets are so strong..even convicts like to use them!
Holy Shawshank, Redemption, they got away.
If these poor guys went to all that trouble, they probably did not want to be in that correctional facility in the first place. Just let by gones be by gones for crying out loud. Why we just don't leave these guys alone is beyond me.
i bet they don;t rob any more banks!!!
I'll take that bet!
I figure the one dude will teach the other one how to hit the banks with lots more money than the one he got caught robbing. $4,000 versus $600,000. wow.
Anyways I say they will rob another bank, as to how soon only time will tell for sure.
Hoping they don't hurt anyone now that there on the run..
Better get Tommy Lee Jones in there and his fast-talking techniques! Hahaha!
"The Fugitives"!!
Haha!
Who says that black people and white people can't work together towards a goal that benefits them both outside of the movies???
Bwahahahaha... sorry, it was just my first thought when reading the article... :)
Now they will have to have special sheets that will not hold over 20lbs weight or something like that. Pretty impressive though it sounds like they were up there a ways, who'da thunk.
They dont have carmeas in the cell ? This was a inside job, I find it so hard that so much work was done to get out and nobody notice ,, If those guys kill someone while they are out,,, I hope they sue Chicago city for all they got!!
Nope, no cameras in the cells (at least in most jails, although some maximum security jail cells do have cameras in them for people who are on suicide watch.) And why would you think they would kill someone? They aren't known for commiting acts of violence against the public, so why would they start now? Sounds like you took in everything the police said, hook, line and sinker. That's how the police get help catching these guys, by turning public opinion against them. Trying to scare everyday people by saying these guys are DANGEROUS and should NOT be approached. I for one am on their side, it's about time someone sticks it to these a$$holes and their sh!t don't stink attitudes!!!
Look mommy..Batman and Robin are climbing down the side of the jail house building.
Stop watching all that fake stuff on TV honey...it will mess up your brain.
Okay ... what if I just find one, does that mean I only get $25,000 ... and if I find the one that stole $600,000 ... what makes you think I'm trading down?
I definitely need to call up the Feds and say, "They are in the Americas." I mean, probability is on my side ... and I narrowed it down for them. That's assisting, correct?
Well now they have to be real mobile. Interesting to see how this was done.
i hope they make it. 2 less burdens on the taxpayer.
This example of racial harmony warms my heart during this holiday season.
Ebony and ivory
Live together in perfect harmony
Ripon, Wisconsin
Maybe nothing, just a guess
wonder if they had a gun carved out of soap, too????
the sides of that jail are all lit up at night, it seems like someone would have seen them going down the side of that building, it being white. it isn't like they do window washing at that time of day (night!).
i didn't think anyone had ever escaped from there. the windows are so narrow i thought it was escape proof---the windows are like 6 inches wide. how did they sqeeze out of there??????
I hope they DO get away. They just have to be SURE to cut off all TIES to their families. That is the most important part but on the otherhand it is also the most difficult as well. They just have to look at it this way; If they do try and contact their family members they WILL get arrested, no question about it. And if they are arrested again they will be held in solitary confinement so they wont be able to see their family anyways. At least this way, maybe 2,3 or 5 years down the road they can possibly think about seeing them again. Maybe set something up where their family can come visit them in another country. That is what I'd hope for if I was them. That $600,000 can go a long, LONG ways in a poor country, which is exactly where I'd be headed if I was them.
With all the stories coming out now about the police and their outrageous abuses of power (like unwarranted body cavity searches in public against 2 women for the horrid crime of LITTERING, or the a$$hole cop that picks up the poor guy for JAYWALKING and keeps him in jail because he doesn't have the $50 for bail) coming out in our media, I for one am HAPPY to see someone giving it BACK to those A$$hole$ in BLUE!! RUN BOYS, RUN!! And for gods sake, don't do something stupid like speed or NOT WEAR YOUR SEATBELTS! Be smart about things, PLAN YOUR EVERY MOVE, right down to taking sh!ts. YOU CAN GET AWAY!! Give us, the public who are SOOO damn sick of hearing about the god damned police abusing their powers again and again, give us someone to cheer for who ISN'T a quote "good guy". We'll be following your progress, so don't go and blow it by getting caught!!!
I have advocated tissue paper sheets in prison, for years.. No laundry. Disposable, and cant be used as rope.
Or better yet, use it for toilet paper, after its done as a sheet.