Colorado man sentenced to 10 years for Iowa City bank robbery

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Colorado man, who told police he planned to go to prison before threatening an Iowa City bank teller with his gun and demanding cash in January, was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison earlier this month.

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Nickoles Julio Deherrera, 39, of Boulder, Colorado, originally charged with first-degree robbery, pleaded in March to second-degree robbery. Two months later he asked a judge to withdraw his plea because he believed he was “insane” on Jan. 17 when he robbed Wells Fargo Bank, 103 E. College St., in Iowa City.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Ian Thornhill, at sentencing on May 12, denied Deherrera’s motion to withdraw his plea and sentenced him to up to 10 years in prison. Deherrera must serve a mandatory five years before being eligible for parole.

Thornhill also ordered him to pay victim restitution of $950 to Wells Fargo Bank.

According to a complaint, Deherrera walked into the bank and handed over a note, stating the teller “would not go home tonight” if he didn’t give up the cash. Deherrera pulled up his shirt to display a wooden handle of a replica black powder military style revolver.

The teller complied with the defendant's demands, and handed him about $1,000 in various denominations.

Deherrera was soon found by police at the Iowa City Public Library. Officers recovered surveillance video throughout Iowa City of Deherrera, before, during and after the robbery, the complaint stated.

He told a police officer that before he committed the robbery, and he planned to commit the crime so he could go to prison.

Deherrera, just a day before the bank robbery, had been released by a judge on his own recognizance after he was arrested Jan. 15, for stealing a tent and bicycle from Walmart. In that case, he was charged with fourth-degree theft and possession of contraband — plastic bag of “crystalline substance”-- in a correctional institution, which he had in his wallet while being booked into jail.

Those charges are pending and a trial date hasn’t been set at this time.

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