Lowell man held in Swansea bank heist

LOWELL — A 35-year-old Lowell man who allegedly drove over a golf course and a lawn before crashing into a police cruiser as he fled from a bank robbery in Swansea is being held without bail he faces a hearing in federal court.

Jason Nobles was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston with masked and armed bank robbery in connection with a Feb. 26 robbery of a Santander Bank in Swansea in which Nobles allegedly escaped with about $15,000 in cash, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors say Nobles pulled what appeared to be a black, semi-automatic pellet pistol and pointed it at tellers in the bank while demanding cash.

A press release issued by Swansea and Rehoboth police says officers obtained a description of a silver Toyota RAV-4 that fled the robbery, and that officers began pursuing that vehicle after getting reports it was driven across a local golf course.

The RAV-4 was driven over a lawn during that pursuit, which ended when Nobles crashed the RAV-4 into a Rehoboth police car. Two Rehoboth officers were taken to an area hospital as a precaution afterward. Nobles was arrested at gunpoint, according to police.

“The money from the robbery was still stuffed in the front of the suspect’s sweatshirt,” police said in a press release.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said a search of the RAV-4 turned up a large sum of cash and a black Sig Sauer semi-automatic pellet gun.

Nobles was initially arraigned on state charges, but was charged in federal court Thursday. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the federal charge, though federal sentencing guidelines usually lead to less than the maximum sentence.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler ordered Nobles held pending a detention hearing, according to a press release.

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