Barnes Robbed 10 Banks

Man Tells Detectives He Had To Pay Bills

Steve Turner, a commercial cave expert from Tennessee, removes loose rock from War Eagle Cavern on Nov. 27 during construction of a tunnel that will allow more visitor access to the cavern.
Steve Turner, a commercial cave expert from Tennessee, removes loose rock from War Eagle Cavern on Nov. 27 during construction of a tunnel that will allow more visitor access to the cavern.

— Anthony Timothy Barnes decided to solve his financial problems by robbing banks.

“I had no money,” he told Rogers police detectives. “I had no way to pay my bills. They just repo’d my car."

He robbed 10 banks in Benton and Washington counties over a two-year period beginning in June 2007. He made no apologies for what he did.

“Mr. Barnes was the definition of a career bank robber, based on his actions of doing the crimes, being released on bond and going out and doing it again,” said Denis Dean, Washington County deputy prosecuting attorney. “But he wasn’t very good at it.”

Barnes, through his attorney Drew Ledbetter, declined an interview for this story

The first bank robbery connected to Barnes took place at the Priority Bank on East Mission Avenue in Fayetteville in June 2007. He managed eight other bank heists before being apprehended and one more after his arrest while out on bail and presumably under house arrest.

“All the robberies were similar,” said Larry Taylor, Rogers police detective. “He was wearing a suit or jacket, a hat or fedora. He kind of made himself stand out.” Police matched clothing described in the robberies to items found in a closet in Barnes’ home, Taylor said.

Barnes also had a distinguishing tattoo of wings on his neck.

Each crime had another common denominator — a black BB gun Barnes used and with which sometimes threatened bank employees.

Barnes’ life as a bank robber began to fizzle with a failed robbery attempt at First Federal Bank, 1303 W. Hudson Road, on July 3, 2009. Barnes, armed with the BB gun, entered the bank, but did not realize he would be separated from tellers by bulletproof glass.

The tellers refused to give Barnes money, and he fled. He then went to the Bank of Ozarks at 800 N. 47th St. where he was able to take an undisclosed amount of money. A bank employee put a GPS device in with the stolen money, which led police to Barnes’ home.

Confession

Barnes sat in an interrogation room July 3, 2009, at the Rogers Police Department as authorities searched his home. Taylor entered the room and began chatting with Barnes. It started with small talk then moved to the robberies.

“I never go in with the intention of hurting anybody,” Barnes told Taylor.

Barnes admitted to Taylor he was responsible for the failed robbery and then the successful one.

Barnes drew a diagram of the first bank’s location and also where he parked.

“I went inside the bank,” Barnes said. “There was glass and nothing I could do. I left in a panic."

Barnes then drew another diagram of the second bank’s location.

“I ran in and hopped over the counter and told them to put the money in a bag,” Barnes said. “I told them to get on the floor and start counting."

“How much money did you get?” Taylor asked.

“I have no idea,” Barnes replied.

“Did you count it?” Taylor asked.

“Nope,” Barnes replied. “I started to, and I saw you out front."

Barnes said his wife, Guadalupe, wanted to know who was outside their home. She was crying. Barnes said he told her not to worry and if anything went wrong the stolen money was by the furnace.

“I told her to take the girls and get out right now,” Barnes said. “I told her I didn’t do anything."

The interview ended when the questioning turned to other unsolved bank robberies. Barnes then asked for an attorney.

Barnes was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and was held in the Benton County Jail on $250,000 bond.

Prosecutors later charged Barnes with a 2008 bank robbery in Rogers. Deputy Prosecutor A.J. Anglin revealed during a hearing Barnes also was a suspect in several bank robberies in Washington County,

Circuit Judge Jon Comstock later reduced Barnes’ bond to $20,000, and he was released from jail. This time he was ordered to wear a tracking device.

Family Man

Barnes, 34, was born and raised in Oklahoma. He completed 10th grade and later obtained his GED. Barnes first worked at IHOP at age 17. His last job was at a factory in Lowell, but court documents do not disclose specific details of the job.

Barnes has been convicted of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine and cannabis. He was sentenced to six years in prison, but he instead successfully completed a boot camp program.

Seth Mims, a friend of Barnes, testified at a July 2011 bond hearing for Barnes that he had known Barnes since 1997 or 1998. Mims described himself as Barnes’ mentor and said the two were close friends. Mims described Barnes as a good person and family man.

Mims tried to help Barnes obtain a real estate license, but that wasn’t possible because Barnes had a criminal record.

Barnes’ wife testified at the same hearing the two had been together for nine years, and they married in 2004. They had three daughters. Their oldest child — a boy — died shortly after birth. She described her three daughters as “daddy’s girls."

Taylor was at work one day when he was texted a photograph of a suspect in a bank robbery in Rogers. A man held two employees at gunpoint and took $25,000 from the Metropolitan National Bank branch on South Pleasant Crossing Parkway on Nov. 1, 2011, according to court documents. The suspect pulled his mask down in the bank breezeway and his image was captured by a camera.

Taylor looked at the photograph and immediately thought it was Barnes because of a tattoo — one with wings on his neck — but Taylor believed Barnes was in jail. Police checked and discovered Barnes had been released months earlier.

The question authorities faced was would a person rob a bank while wearing a GPS device? Police learned Barnes was arrested in Texas weeks before the bank robbery, but the GPS device showed Barnes was in Rogers at that time. Rogers police learned Barnes was not wearing the GPS device when he was booked into the McAllen, Texas, jail for assault with bodily injury to a family member, his wife.

Barnes was arrested in connection with his fourth bank robbery in Benton County and was returned to the Benton County Jail.

Detectives believe Barnes may have used soap and water to loosen the GPS device until he was able to get it off his ankle.

Guilty Pleas

Barnes pleaded guilty in September to robbing four Rogers banks. He was sentenced to 65 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. He pleaded guilty and received 40 years for six bank robberies in Washington County. The two sentences will run concurrently.

Barnes must serve 70 percent of the Benton County sentence before he will be eligible for parole. He is housed at the Ouachita Correctional Unit in Malvern.

Police recovered the money in the July 3, 2009, and Nov. 1, 2011, robberies. They do not know what Barnes did with the money from his other crimes.

Barnes agreed to pay $20,770 in victim restitution in connection with his Benton County crimes.

In February, the First National Bank of Centerton was robbed. A man handed a teller a note demanding $10,000. The man said he had a gun in his jacket pocket and he would kill everyone in the bank. The robber got away with $8,400.

The case remains open and no arrests have been made. Taylor is sure one person didn’t do the crime.

“That one was not Anthony,” Taylor said. “He was in jail.”

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