Phil Beckman
Daily Egyptian
A convicted felon and sex offender on parole was arrested at 1:35 p.m. Saturday in connection with a robbery earlier that day of the Old National Bank substation inside Schnuck's grocery store, 915 Main St.
Robert M. Budwitis, 42, was arrested at the Sunset Motel, 825 E. Main St., less than an hour after the robbery.
Information developed at the scene led police to identify Budwitis as the alleged robber, Carbondale Deputy Police Chief Steve Odum said.
A man approached the clerks at the Old National Bank at 12:40 p.m. Saturday and told them he had a gun and demanded money. The clerks gave him an undisclosed amount of money before the man fled the scene.
Police said a majority of the money stolen in the robbery was recovered.
Budwitis, 518 W. Rigdon St., had been released on parole on Oct. 15, 2001, for multiple felony convictions involving an incident in Cook County.
Budwitis was arrested on Feb. 26, 1986, and received five concurrent 15-year prison sentences for convictions on charges of home invasion, residential burglary, armed robbery, aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping.
He was also arrested in 1983 and convicted of burglary and sentenced to three years in prison.
Budwitis was scheduled to be discharged from parole on Oct. 15, 2004.
Odum said that whenever a federally insured bank is robbed, it is automatically a federal case and the FBI takes charge. The FBI, Carbondale Police Department and the SIUC Police Department were involved in the investigation.
Budwitis is being held in the Jackson County Jail on state charges pending a preliminary hearing on July 30. A judge set his bond Monday at $100,000.
Reporter Phil Beckman can be reached at
pbeckman@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
