Robbed Iowa City cab driver: 'I got this bad feeling'

UPDATE: As Dan Oxenford drove west across Iowa City early Thursday morning, he thought about the three robberies that had been reported on the west side of the city in the past week.

Two of the victims had been cab drivers, but Oxenford, a driver with Marco's Taxi Cab, knew that his destination on Jensen Street was in a nice, middle class neighborhood. He figured he'd be fine.

But, when Oxenford, 31, of Keota, pulled up to the house at 1034 Jensen St., he immediately knew something was wrong.

“All the lights were out and all the sudden, I got this bad feeling,” he said.

He asked his dispatcher to call the supposed fare. The call went to voicemail. Oxenford sat for a couple of minutes. The dispatcher told him to give it 30 seconds.

It was just then at 4:43 a.m. that a man, his face obscured by the hood of his windbreaker pops up, put a black pistol to Oxenford's head and demanded his cash. The man took all of the money Oxenford had in his pocket and then demands the contents of his wallet – money Oxenford and his girlfriend had been saving for a deposit on a new apartment.

The man took the money in Oxenford's wallet, threw it back at him and ran east into the shadows.

Oxenford is the fourth person to be robbed on the west side of Iowa City in the last week, and the third cab driver. All four of the robberies happened within a mile of each other. One of them happened just a block from where Oxenford was held up.

Police said Thursday morning they are taking a proactive approach to capturing the suspects.

“We've increased patrols,” said Iowa City Police Sgt. Vicki Lalla.

The first two robberies happened this past weekend.

Around 11 p.m. Friday night, a Five Stars Cab driver told police he had been robbed at gunpoint by two black men in the parking lot at 2437 Petsel Place. On Sunday night, a Yellow Cab driver dispatched to nearby Samoa Drive reported he was approached by a man who pulled a gun on him and demanded cash. That suspect was described as a black man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.

Another strong arm robbery was reported at 4:43 a.m. Wednesday. The victim reported that he had been robbed by two black men wearing dark hooded sweatshirts at 2:30 a.m. in the area of 2400 Bittersweet Court.

All four of the robberies occurred within a mile of each other in residential neighborhoods that are largely comprised of rental properties.

Police are continuing to explore the possibility that the robberies are related.

“Logically, one would say, ‘yes,'” they are related, Lalla said. “Until we figure out who it is, it's hard to say. Certainly, that's something they're looking at.”

Lalla said police won't tell cab drivers where they should or should not go, but cautioned drivers to “be on their toes.”

“They have the right to conduct their business as they see fit,” she said. “Certainly, we would caution them if they're getting a fare over there.”

Oxenford said if drivers are uncomfortable about going to pick up a fare in a certain part of town, they can request a police escort. He'd like to see the police tail a driver to a call in hopes of catching a suspect in the act.

The rash of robberies has cab drivers in the community spooked, Oxenford said.

“We are all dead set on getting this guy,” he said. “We want him caught. It's a scary thing, right now, to be a cab driver in Iowa City. He's making us all afraid to go to work. Nobody wants to get robbed.”

Iowa City Area Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of these suspects. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 358-8477.