Suburban bank official arrested in Dominican Republic with stolen $40K in Illinois

A 25-year-old assistant bank manager from Palos Hills was arrested in the Dominican Republic Saturday with nearly $40,000 in cash stolen from a bank vault earlier in the day, FBI officials said today.




Blazej M. Wasilewski, of the 10300 block of South Alta Drive in the southwest suburb, was charged in U.S. District Court with bank embezzlement, a felony, according to a press release issued by FBI officials.



Wasilewski is currently in the Dominican Republic awaiting extradition, officials said.



Wasilewski, an assistant manager from the south suburban Glenwood Chase bank branch, 18701 S. Halsted St., was able to manually turn off the bank 's electrical power on Friday evening as the bank was closing for the day, according to the criminal complaint filed Monday.



Early Saturday morning, Wasilewski allegedly returned to the bank and was able to use his keys and alarm codes to enter the bank, deactivate the alarm and open the vault, officials said.



The money was discovered missing when bank employees conducted an audit of the bank on Saturday morning after employees noticed that one teller cash dispenser was missing and a second dispenser been forced open and emptied of money, officials said.



The audit found that $39,765 was missing and Wasilewski was the suspected thief after his bank issued entry key was found sitting on a counter inside the bank and the bank's security system indicated that his code had been used to enter the bank and the vault, officials said.



Wasilewski could not be found when the bank manager tried to reach him Saturday morning, officials said.



FBI officials were able to track Wasilewski to O'Hare International Airport, where records indicated that he had boarded a flight Saturday morning from Chicago to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, officials said.



He was arrested Saturday evening by officers of the Dominican National Police as he tried to enter that country with $39,765 he did not declare to Dominican customs officials, according to the complaint.



Once he is extradited, he is expected to appear in U.S. District Court where he will be formally charged. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, officials said.