Fugitive busts out of jail; robs a bank

This reads like the plot of a movie.

Matteson man busts out of jail

Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Daily Southtown

By Courtney Greve
Staff writer

Fugitive believed to have robbed bank shortly after escape from Cook County to become the first Cook County Jail escapee in a decade.

Randy Rencher shed his prison garb, broke into a guard's locker, changed into a correctional officer's uniform and walked out a main gate.

Then the 37-year-old Matteson man may have traveled six miles to rob a downtown bank, officials said.

Cook County sheriff's police, Chicago police, Illinois state police, suburban task forces, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals teamed up Tuesday for the second day of the manhunt.

Rencher was still at large Tuesday night and believed to be dangerous, officials said.

Rencher, who was being held for drug, weapons and home invasion charges, escaped from a medium-security wing of the jail Monday afternoon, sheriff's department spokesman Bill Cunningham said.

"We have some leads, but at this point we can't discuss them in detail because it could jeopardize the investigation," he said.

Cunningham said Rencher "at certain times was not properly supervised by the staff assigned to guard him."

An internal investigation will determine if any jail employees should be disciplined in connection with the escape, he said.

Still, Cunningham praised jail employees for the longest stretch ?- 10 years ?- in Cook County history without an escape.

"It's something we're proud of and a testament to the people who work at the jail," he said, adding monthly escapes plagued the facility in the 1970s.

The escape happened between noon and 3 p.m. Monday, officials said.

Rencher was assigned to a work crew delivering meals to inmates, Cunningham said.

Officials believe he was moving a food cart through the jail's underground tunnel system when he slipped into an employee locker room, found a guard's uniform, put it on and walked out posing as a corrections officer.

Tunnels link all but two of the jail's 11 buildings, allowing more than 1,500 inmates to move between courtrooms and holding cells out of public view, Cunningham said.

When Rencher failed to returned from his meal delivery duties, the jail complex at 26th Street and California Avenue was shut down, Cunningham said.

Rencher's discarded prison uniform was found in the locker room. Police searching for Rencher on Tuesday looked around his former homes and interviewed some of his former associates, Cunningham said.

Rencher's last known addresses are the 200 block of Timber Lane in Matteson and the 6100 block of South Whipple Street in Chicago's Marquette Park neighborhood.

CrimeStoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to Rencher's capture. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should call the sheriff's police at (773) 869-4372 or call 911.

Rencher is 6-foot-3, about 180 pounds with brown eyes and thinning brown hair.

Court records show he has used several birthdays and aliases, including Randall Brown.

Police said he also has several distinctive tattoos: the word "Slick" on his lower left or right arm; a heart and pitchfork on his upper left arm; and the word "Outlaw" across his back.

At 2:12 p.m. Monday, a man matching Rencher's description robbed the First American Bank at 50 E. Adams St., FBI spokesman Ross Rice said.

The robber approached a teller and implied he was carrying a weapon, although no gun was displayed during the holdup. He left on foot with an unknown amount of money, Rice said.

"The suspect's description matches (Rencher's), and he was wearing some kind of Cook County uniform," Rice said.

Two other Chicago banks were robbed Monday, but Rencher is not a suspect in those cases, Rice said.

Since November, Rencher has been held on $100,000 bail for possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of a weapon.

His bail was increased to $600,000 on June 22 after home invasion charges were introduced. He is accused of breaking into a room at a long-term residential motel at 7701 S. Cicero Ave. in August, Cunningham said.

Cunningham said Rencher should have been pulled from his meal delivery job after being charged with home invasion. The work crews are considered a privilege typically reserved for non-violent, well-behaved prisoners.

Rencher's rap sheet dates to 1986. He has been convicted and imprisoned for aggravated battery, aggravated criminal sexual assault, burglary, and unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, court records show.

Cunningham said the last escape occurred a decade ago when Robert Casillas climbed over a wall.

Casillas, who was facing trial for charges he killed a couple during a North Side jewelry store robbery, was captured in Texas about a month later.

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