JOLIET, IL — At 9:29 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, Joliet rock musician Tom Tynan entered the First Midwest Bank at 1415 West Jefferson Street and he gave one of the bank tellers a manila folder that read: “$100s, $50s, $20s, no dye packs you have 45 seconds,” Tynan’s federal criminal complaint states.

The bank robbery netted Tynan less than $1,000 —$938 to be exact, court records show.

Less than six hours later, in Justice, Ill., the FBI had the Joliet resident in custody, which has caused chaos for the classic rock band that bears his name.

Tynan was scheduled to play on Sept. 27, at the Grundy County Corn Festival in Morris. Instead, the 59-year-old Joliet rock musician remains in federal custody. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago has formally charged Tynan with bank robbery, a federal offense.

The federal complaint submitted by FBI Special Agent Scott Erthal contains the following information on how Tynan was identified as the Joliet bank robber:

  • “Upon hearing of the robbery during the morning of September 19, 2019, a senior vice president for First Midwest Bank advised law enforcement that s/he viewed surveillance images of the robber from earlier that day, and FMB Vice President positively identified the robber as Thomas Tynan, a former customer of First Midwest Bank.
  • The bank vice president told law enforcement that s/he has become familiar with Tynan from having had dozens of personal interactions with Tynan at the downtown Joliet branch over approximately the last four or five years. Also according to Employee A, his/her interactions with Tynan primarily related to Tynan’s status as a loan and deposit customer of the bank and Tynan’s repeated overdrafts of his accounts.
  • Law enforcement spoke on the phone with a relative of Tynan who advised that Tynan has had ongoing financial issues. Later, the immediate family member advised law enforcement that s/he went online and viewed the surveillance images of the bank robbery suspect and was ’97 percent positive’ Tynan is the robber depicted in those surveillance images.
  • Law enforcement received a phone call from a manager of Busey Bank in Joliet. The manager went online to view surveillance images. “Upon viewing those surveillance images s/he immediately recognized the robber depicted in them as Thomas Tynan with whom s/he is familiar as having been a customer of Busey Bank. In particular, Busey Bank Manager stated that s/he has had frequent personal interaction with Tynan at Busey Bank over approximately the last few years.”
  • At approximately 2:45 p.m. on September 19, 2019, FBI agent Scott Aaron Erthal and other law enforcement officials located Tynan in Justice and placed him under arrest.
  • On Friday, Sept. 20, after Tynan was already in Will County’s Jail, law enforcement presented Teller A of First Midwest Bank with photo array of six white males, including a photograph of Tynan. Teller A identified the known photograph of Tynan as the person who committed the robbery on September 19, 2019, with 95 percent certainty.
Image via Joliet Police Department

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