Police search for suspects in Peoria bank robberies

By Holly Eitenmiller For Chronicle Media

Surveillance photo of suspect in the Redbrand Credit Union bank robbery from Jan. 11. (Photo courtesy of Peoria Police)

 

Peoria police are still searching for three suspects involved in two armed bank robberies.

Police responded around 4:05 p.m. Jan. 11 to a report at Commerce Bank, 2609 N. Knoxville Ave., where two armed men entered the bank, then fled in a white four-door vehicle after the robbery.

Shortly after, at 5:24 p.m., Redbrand Credit Union, 7730 N. Grand Prairie Drive, was held up by a man armed with a gun. That suspect fled by foot around the back of the bank building.

Police say one suspect in the Commerce Bank robbery was thin, light-completed and brandished a shotgun. The second man was dressed completely in black, including a black mask and hooded shirt. The two made off with more than $2,000.

The suspect in the second robbery also wore a black, but carried a handgun. He robbed Redbrand Credit Union of around $14,000.

Detective David Smith of the Peoria Police Department Criminal Investigations Division, said it is not known if the two robberies are connected, but video surveillance photos of two suspects, one from the first heist, and the other from the second, have been released.

The police department is requesting help from the public in identifying all suspects. If you have any information regarding this incident, contact Detective Smith at (309) 494-8391 or CrimeStoppers anonymously at (309) 673-9000.

In a separate crime spree, a Peoria man is being held on $1.2 million bond for four armed robberies in late 2016. Breon J. Fondren-Rucker, 19, is being held at the Peoria County Jail on four bond issuances of $300,000 each per offense.

Rucker and Derius J. Brady, who remains at large, were previously charged with robberies at three Peoria retailers from Dec. 27-29. Rucker also is charged with robbing R&J’s Pawn Shop on Jefferson Avenue. On Nov. 29. He was accompanied by an unidentified suspect who was not Brady.

 

 

 

— Police search for suspects in Peoria bank robberies —