Chicago Man Arrested for Defrauding La Grange Area Banks

A Chicago man was arrested after incidents in La Grange Park and Westchester involving his trying to get money from someone else’s bank accounts using fraudulent identification.

Melvin O. Jones, 57, of the 600 block of Diversey Avenue in Chicago, was charged with one count of Class 3 felony theft on the Aug. 26 incident at MB Financial Bank, 401 N. La Grange Rd., misdemeanor fraud to a bank and felony possession of fraudulent identification, according to Westchester police, for trying to defraud a Wells Fargo Bank, 11000 W. 31st St., in their village.

His court date is Oct. 14 in the 4th Municipal District Court building in Maywood.  A bond hearing was held Saturday, but Westchester police said Oct. 12 they do not have the amount set by the court because of the three-day holiday due to Columbus Day. Patch learned from the county on Wednesday that bond was set at $25,000.

La Grange Park police detectives put out a flier on Sept. 7 with a description and photo from a security camera at the La Grange Park bank branch of the man who withdrew $3,200 from someone else’s account Aug. 26.

An MB Bank official contacted La Grange Park police Oct. 4 to say a man matching that description tried on Sept. 19 to withdraw money from that same account at its branch at 3179 N. Clark St. in Chicago. That withdrawal was denied. MB said it has refunded all the money withdrawn from that person’s account and the bank now is the victim in the case.

Westchester police said they had a man in custody Oct. 7 for trying to defraud Wells Fargo Bank and he strongly resembled the man in the flier. The man, later identified as Jones, had a fraudulent driver’s license from Massachusetts, Westchester police said.

Jones told La Grange Park police that a man drove him to the La Grange Road bank, handed him an identification card with his photo and someone else’s name on it, and told him to withdraw money from the account that matched the name. He said he withdrew $3,200.  Police said Jones confirmed the photo on the flier was of him.

Patch reports on law enforcement activity in our towns, using information provided by official agencies. Persons charged with a crime, or issued a citation for violation of a local ordinance, are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If you or a family member are charged with a crime or cited for a violation, and the charge or citation is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor of this Patch site, matthew@patch.com, and we will do follow-up reporting on the case.