(GRAYSLAKE) A woman was charged with trying to rob a credit union in north suburban Grayslake last week after authorities recorded her planning the heist with a friend.
Yvette Pedrero, 23, was charged with attempting to enter the Community Trust Credit Union at 1263 N. Route 83 in Grayslake at 10:11 a.m. Thursday with the intent to rob it, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court Friday.
An acquaintance of Pedrero contacted Gurnee police Aug. 29 to tell them that Pedrero had tried to recruit him to assist with the robbery, prosecutors said. He told investigators she initially contacted him via Facebook two days earlier and said she wanted help with something. Pedrero later told him over the phone that she planned to rob two branches of the credit union where she used to work — one in Grayslake and another in Gurnee.
Pedrero told him that she planned to rob the credit unions while they were opening or closing and that she had already conducted surveillance and decided where to park a getaway car near the Grayslake branch, according to prosecutors.
After contacting police, the witness began cooperating with investigators and agreed to act as an informant and pretend to go along with Pedrero’s plan, prosecutors said. He provided investigators with text message exchanges with Pedrero planning the heists and agreed to wear a wire to record conversations with her in a vehicle en route to the robbery.
After listening to Pedrero verbally confirm her plan to rob the credit union multiple times, law enforcement officers who were waiting near the credit union arrested her as she walked toward the entrance, prosecutors said. She later admitted to authorities that she had planned to commit the robbery.
