An Oklahoma man reportedly admitted to robbing two banks of almost $320,000 last week. 

According to a March 17 news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma, Jerry Ray Brown, 44, of Bixby, pleaded guilty to two counts of bank robbery "through the use of intimidation."

"The FBI will continue to aggressively investigate violent crimes such as the ones committed by Mr. Brown," Edward Gray, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Oklahoma City Division, said. "Anyone who carries out such menacing behavior and inflicts such trauma on innocent citizens has no right to be in our communities."

According to the Department of Justice, Brown robbed Skiatook's Oklahoma Capital Bank March 12, 2020. Less than two months later, he robbed Exchange Bank in Sperry. In both crimes, the defendant wore a black mask and demanded employees take him to their vaults and open the ATMs. 

The agency stated that Brown likely robbed the banks "to alleviate the numerous professional and personal financial problems he had been experiencing."

“Jerry Brown robbed two banks, and while awaiting federal court proceedings for those crimes, he attempted to stage his own kidnapping to avoid prosecution. He ultimately fled to Kansas where he was apprehended for a second time,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Thanks to a concerted law enforcement effort from Oklahoma to Kansas, Jerry Ray Brown has been brought to justice.”