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