A former Anita Police Chief was arrested Tuesday in connection with bank robbery in Anita Tuesday morning. Cass County Sheriff Bill Sage announced the arrest during a news conference.
Sage say 40-year old Richard Dean Swope of Atlantic was arrested at his residence on a charge of armed robbery. Swope served as the Chief of Police in Anita from July 1993 to February 1996. Sage says the First National Bank in Anita was robbed at around 7:45 A.M. Tuesday when a man entered displayed a weapon and fired one round towards the manager, narrowly missing him.
The man ordered the manager to enter the teller area, and subsequently ordered the other two bank employees to lay on the floor. A teller was told to place all of the money in a bag. The man took off in a maroon or red colored late 1980’s or early 1990’s Oldsmobile-style vehicle.
Sage says a citizen who heard the vehicle description on a police scanner recognized the vehicle in Atlantic as Swope’s and called police. Sage says officers went to Swope’s home and interviewed him. Sage says the officers then proceeded with the investigation
Sheriff Sage says the officers executed a search warrant on Swope’s residence and seized a 45 caliber handgun, a bag of cash and a wig that was similar to the one worn by the bank robber. Sager saysSwope has confessed to the crime, and was placed under arrest by the agents with the F-B-I and transported to Des Moines.