Police: Woman Admits To Robbing Claremore, Tulsa County Banks

Claremore police officers booked a Prattville woman into jail Tuesday afternoon.

They say she admitted to robbing an area bank back in February, but police think she may have hit other banks as well.

When 33-year-old Sharlene Owens saw our News On 6 camera, she turned and shook her head. Police say she acted very differently in front of a camera inside the BancFirst on Will Rogers Boulevard.

Police say footage from that camera shows Owens walking up to the teller, in February, wearing a black hoodie and sunglasses. They say Owens holds up a gun and slips the teller a note, demanding a specific amount of money.

2/11/2016: Related Story: Claremore Police Respond To Bank Robbery

"Through some hard work - just good ol' fashioned detective work, leg work, phone work - our investigators developed a suspect," said Claremore police chief, Stan Brown.

Brown said his investigators developed sources and followed leads over several months, using social media to help track Owens down.

Officers arrested her on an unrelated misdemeanor warrant and say she confessed to the BancFirst stick-up.

Officers say Owens admitted not only to this robbery, but claimed she had robbed several other businesses across Tulsa County.

Brown said it's not just about the money; what's more alarming, he said, is that Owens held up a gun and threatened a life.

"There's that tremendous potential for those encounters to become more violent, or for something bad to go wrong and for someone to lose their life. Money can be replaced; people can't," he said.

Owens has a 2015 shoplifting charge from a Rogers County Walmart.