Credit union robbed by township man

The DFCU Financial Credit Union at Maple and Cranbrook was robbed on Friday, July 13, by a Bloomfield Township man who also robbed a township bank and others in Ferndale and Oak Park before being arrested on Friday, July 20 on federal bank robbery charges.

The suspect, Jeffrey James Chaney, 55, of Bloomfield Township, has been charged with robbing DFCU Financial credit union at 2483 W. Maple Road in Birmingham of an undisclosed amount of money. Birmingham police received a report of a bank robbery at about 5:30 p.m. July 13.

Police said a lone white male, believed to be Chaney, entered the credit union wearing a white construction dust mask to hide his identity. Police said he also displayed a weapon in his waistband.

After obtaining the money from a teller, he fled on foot on southbound Cranbrook Road.

Police added it appeared he was going to rob a Huntington Bank branch at E. Maple Rad in Birmingham 20 minutes prior to the credit union incident, but employees inside Huntington Bank recognized the suspect as he approached the bank, so he fled before he went in.

Birmingham police, in cooperation with Bloomfield Township and Ferndale police, the FBI and the FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force, helped lead to the arrest of Chaney.

“The suspect matched the description of the person responsible for two bank robberies that had occurred in the city of Ferndale and Bloomfield Township,” said Birmingham Police Chief Mark Clemence. “The suspect is also believed to be responsible for the robbery of a bakery in the city of Oak Park.”

Chaney was arraigned on several charges in federal court.