State police probe death of Matteson man in custody, facing robbery charge
State police said Thursday they are investigating the Sept. 9 death of a Matteson man who was being held in police custody facing a charge of robbing a Chicago bank in early January.
Dewayne Tucker, 32, previously had been sentenced in 2017 for carrying out a string of bank robberies in Chicago and the suburbs, and had been arrested Aug. 16 by the U.S. Marshals Service on a charge of robbing a Chicago bank Jan. 3, according to court records.
He was initially held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago before being relocated to the Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee, where he was in the custody of the Kankakee County sheriff ’s office.
In a statement Thursday, the sheriff ’s office said that Tucker had been “evaluated on several occasions by medical providers” while at the detention center, and that, the morning of Sept. 7, he was “experiencing additional medical issues.” Tucker was taken to Riverside
Hospital in Kankakee and died two days later.
His family is seeking an investigation by the Justice Department into his death, alleging Tucker was abused while in the sheriff ’s custody. He was suffering from swelling in his brain and severe hydration, family members said.
An attorney representing the family did not return messages seeking comment.
The Kankakee County sheriff ’s office said Thursday that, following Tucker’s death, it had asked state police to step in and conduct an independent investigation, and state police confirmed an investigation is ongoing but could not provide more comment.
In a statement Tuesday, the Kankakee County coroner’s office said it performed an autopsy Sept. 10 on Tucker and that the official cause of death has not yet been determined pending further study.
The office said that there “were no signs of any trauma or evidence of any foul play” found during the autopsy.
Tucker was arrested Aug. 16 by the U.S. Marshals Service after a bench warrant had been issued by a federal judge Aug. 4, according to court documents.
According to federal court filings, Tucker was charged with robbing a PNC Bank branch in Chicago on Jan. 3 of this year, taking a bit more than $1,200.
He was subsequently indicted on the robbery charge Sept. 8, but that indictment was dismissed the following day after Tucker’s death.
He had, in March 2016, pleaded guilty in federal court to committing other bank robberies and sentenced in 2017 to 6½ years in prison, according to court documents.
Following his prison term, Tucker was sentenced to serve three years of probation and he was ordered to make restitution of more than $11,000, according to a court filing.
After his August arrest, Tucker had been scheduled for an in-person hearing in federal court in Chicago Sept. 21.
In an Aug. 30 court entry, however, a judge cited the Marshal’s Service’s concerns about transporting Tucker for a hearing before the judge, noting that doing so “may present a danger” to Tucker or the deputies.
The court entry also stated that Tucker’s defense attorney said that his client was being scheduled for a mental health evaluation.
In 2017, before his sentence for bank robberies in Chicago and suburbs including Evanston, Melrose Park and Oak Park, Tucker’s court-appointed attorney had sought leniency for her client.
The U.S. attorney’s office had asked that Tucker be sentenced to a term of between 9 years and more than 11 years in prison. In its sentencing recommendation, the office said that while Tucker did not use a firearm in the robberies, he implied he had a gun and threatened to shoot bank employees if they did not comply with his demands.
Tucker’s attorney said that her client suffered from “significant cognitive limitations and related mental health conditions,” and that his upbringing had been “devoid of stability and support,” being passed around to various family members when he was a child.