LITTLE ROCK — Police and prosecutors aren't saying much about Anthony Timothy Barnes, other than he may have robbed 10 Northwest Arkansas banks while wearing a variety of funny hats.
If true, that would make him responsible for all of the unsolved bank robberies in Benton and Washington counties in the past 26 months, according to information from the FBI Web site.
Barnes, 31, of Rogers was charged Thursday in Benton County Circuit Court with two counts of aggravated robbery after police said he robbed two Rogers banks on July 3, getting money from only one. Police found him when tellers put a global-positioning-system tracking device in a bag of money that led police to his residence, where they arrested him.
Barnes is a suspect in eight other bank robberies - one in Rogers and seven in Washington County - that were committed between June 6, 2007, and May 7, 2009, said Larry Taylor, a detective with the Rogers Police Department.
Taylor told the court that Barnes was a suspect in the other robberies in part because of unusual headgear, which changed from one robbery to the next. Taylor said police found clothes at Barnes' residence that matched clothing worn during the two Rogers bank robberies.
"He kept us busy," said Sgt. Tim Franklin of the Fayetteville Police Department's criminal investigation division.
Franklin said Barnes is a suspect in the two bank robberies that occurred in Fayetteville during that time.
"We're trying to do a timeline and gather information," Franklin said.
Franklin said information will be presented to the county prosecutor in about two weeks. He said the Springdale Police Department was also building a case against Barnes, but no one in that department could be reached for comment Friday.
Stuart Cearley, chief deputy prosecutor for Benton County, said Barnes wore overcoats, masks and hats with brims, "an old-school kind of look," apparently to conceal his identity.
A search of bandittrackerarkansas.com - a Web site operated by the FBI that details area bank robberies - reveals similarities between the clothes reportedly worn by Barnes and clothing worn by the thief in seven unsolved area bank robberies posted on the site.
In each case, the suspect was a white male of medium build and medium height and weighing about 150 pounds.
All area bank robberies may not be listed on the Web site. The Rogers bank robbery in which Barnes is charged was not listed.
Barnes was charged Thursday in the robbery of the Bank of Ozarks at 800 N. 47th St. in Rogers and in the attempted robbery of First Federal Bank at 1303 W. Hudson Road in Rogers. At Barnes' home, police found a nylon bag containing more than $2,500 and a black BB gun that could have been what bank employees thought was a handgun used in the robbery, according to court records.
The robber got no money in the First Federal heist because the tellers were behind bulletproof glass, Cearley said.
"He handed them a note and waved a gun, and they just waved back at him," he said.
Information for this article was contributed by Tracy M. Neal of the Benton County Daily Record.
Arkansas, Pages 17 on 08/29/2009