by Benton County Daily Record

 

ROGERS — A GPS tracking device slipped into a bag during a bank robbery allowed Rogers police to track the suspect and make an arrest Friday.

The man detained Friday as a so-called person of interest is now being held on a $200,000 bond because he stands accused of attempting to rob one bank and robbing another.
Anthony Timothy Barnes, 31, of Rogers faces two counts of aggravated robbery and a count of felony theft of property. The robbery charges are class Y felonies, meaning Barnes could receive a sentence of 10 to 40 years on each of the counts.
Rogers police arrested Barnes after tracking a signal to 6000 S. 38th Place, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed by the Rogers Police Department.
A call at 3:16 p.m. alerted police to an attempted robbery at First Federal Bank at 1303 W. Hudson Road.
The robber — wearing a light-colored face mask, a white hat and jeans — failed to get any money because tellers are protected by bullet-proof glass. Employees told police the man, brandishing a pistol, demanded they open a door and let him behind the counter. They refused and hid behind the counter. The masked man fled empty handed.
At 4:07, a call from Bank of the Ozarks at 800 N. 47th St., reported a robbery. That’s where a teller managed to place what the court documents refer to as “a money tracker” in the bag along with more than $2,500. The man left in a tan Chevy Impala.
The tracking device showed it in the vicinity of South 38th Street and Amour Drive. Officers looked through a garage window at 6000 S. 38th Place to see a tan Chevy Impala parked inside.
Barnes was arrested after he came out of the house.