Kankakee Credit Union Robber Gets 20-Year Sentence

Urbana, Ill. – A 37-year-old Kankakee man has been sentenced to 20 years and 9 months in prison for his role in the armed robbery of the Shapiro Developmental Center Employees Credit Union in Kankakee in June 2009.

Brian O. Williams, of the 700 block of Webster Circle West, Kankakee, was ordered to serve the sentence in the federal Bureau of Prisons, followed by five years of supervised release. In addition, Williams was ordered to pay restitution to the bank in the amount of $284,218.

Williams has remained in law enforcement custody since his arrest in September 2012 in Ohio. He pled guilty on April 17, 2013, to one count of aggravated bank robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

According to the investigation, on June 16, 2009, James Williams drove Brian Williams and Frank C. Black to the credit union to commit the robbery. Brian Williams and Black entered the credit union wearing masks and gloves and armed with handguns. They jumped the counter, brandished their guns, threatened to shoot the credit union employees, and demanded access to the cash drawers and the credit union’s vault.

The employees of the credit union complied with their demands. The men took $276,010 from the drawers and vaults, put it into bags they had brought with them, and left the credit union. The three men then got back into James Williams’ vehicle, drove to a residence, and split the money.

Williams was ordered to serve 13 years and 9 months for the aggravated bank robbery, plus a consecutive seven-year sentence for brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey previously sentenced Black to 70 months (5 years, 10 months) in prison for his role in the credit union robbery. James Williams was previously ordered to serve 87 months (7 years, 3 months) in prison.

The Kankakee Area Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Force, which includes the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Kankakee Police Department, conducted the case investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller prosecuted the case.

Brian Williams is the third defendant to be sentenced in connection with the credit union robbery. The case serves as a reminder of the consequences of committing violent crimes in our community.

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