A South Amana man was charged Monday in connection with several small town bank robberies this month. Thirty-three-year-old Jason Bowers is accused of robbing four banks: the South Story Bank in Slater on October 9, the Farmers and Merchants State Bank in St. Charles on October 16, Peoples Bank and Trust in Rippey on October 17 and the First Trust Savings Bank in Oxford on October 21. Bowers was arrested by federal authorities Friday in Des Moines.

County sheriffs from Madison, Story, Greene and Johnson Counties are involved with the investigation. Each robbery involved a lone gunman wearing a ski mask. The only time he fired a shot was during the Oxford robbery, though no one was injured. In at least two of the cases, the suspect also stole cars belonging to someone in the bank. The vehicles were then found abandoned, leading investigators to believe the bank robber had an accomplice.south

An 18-year-old Mason City man will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder and burglary of another man in August of 2008. Judge John Mackey handed down the sentence on Monday in Cerro Gordo County District Court after a Hardin County jury in August found Damion Seats guilty of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary in connection with the death of Isidoro Erreguin.

Mackey denied a motion by Seats for a new trial before his sentencing. Mackey also ordered that Seats pay restitution of $150,000 as well as $15,500 to the crime victim’s assistance program. Another man charged in the case, Andre Wells Junior, is currently scheduled to stand trial on the same charges in December, while the other co-defendant in the case, Jamie McFarland, has agreed to plead guilty to a first-degree burglary charge in exchange for his testimony against Wells and Seats.

Contributed by Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

Two women are facing charges after Iowa City Police say they used a baby to try and smuggle marijuana out of an apartment complex. The women, Alicia Reed and Kenyatta Taylor, were arrested last Friday afternoon at Taylor’s apartment. Both women are 21-year-old. Officers were executing a search warrant after receiving information that there were drugs in the apartment. Reed attempted to leave the residence with a three-month-old baby.

When officers asked to look through the baby’s blankets, several bags of marijuana fell to the ground as Reed went to set the baby down. Police then searched Taylor’s apartment and found more than 42 grams of packaged marijuana, a digital scale and other items used for dealing drugs under a couch. Taylor’s three young children were in the apartment at the time. Both Reed and Taylor face child endangerment and drug charges.