Two Kenosha Men Arrested in Waukegan Bank Robbery Plot

Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was joined by Daniel L. Greathouse, Chief of the Waukegan, Illinois Police Department (WPD), in announcing the arrest of two Kenosha men for their involvement in the February 2011 armed robbery of the Associated Bank branch, which is located at 1 South Genesee Street in the northern suburb.

JAMES BEY, age 61, and TREVOR L. GREGORY, age 26, both of Kenosha, Wisconsin, were arrested Wednesday, without incident, by FBI special agents at their respective residences. Both men were charged in a criminal complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count each of conspiracy, which is a felony offense.

According to the complaint, the two men have been the subject of a joint investigation by the FBI and WPD since the February armed takeover robbery of the Associated Bank branch. In that robbery, a lone robber, later identified as David Schoenhaar, entered the bank near closing time, armed with a handgun. After forcing bank employees to fill a bag with cash from the vault, he ordered the employees into a basement bathroom, where they remained for several minutes before calling the police.

Responding WPD officers apprehended Schoenhaar a short distance from the bank, when they noticed him walking the street wearing only a t-shirt in freezing weather. Following the arrest, in excess of $200,000 in cash taken during the theft, along with additional evidence linking Schoenhaar to the robbery, was recovered. Schoenhaar was charged with the robbery and his case is still pending in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Subsequent investigation by the FBI and WPD developed additional evidence linking both BEY and GREGORY to the planning of the robbery and the charges announced today.

BEY and GREGORY appeared yesterday before United States Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole in Chicago, at which time they were formally charged. Both men were ordered held without bond, pending their next court appearance, which is scheduled for May 24 at 2:00 p.m. Until then, they will be housed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. If convicted of the charges filed against them, both men face a possible sentence of up to five years’ incarceration.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A copy of the criminal complaint filed in this case is available from the Chicago FBI press office at (312) 829-1199.