Bank robbery sends man back to federal prison

SIOUX CITY - A Cedar Rapids man who robbed Hills Bank and Trust last June while on federal supervised release for a 1990 bank robbery was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to 24 years in federal prison.

Robert M. Rutan, 67, pleaded guilty in September to robbing Hills Bank and Trust on June 3. In the plea agreement, Rutan admitted he gave a note to a teller threatening violence if the teller did not give him money. The teller gave Rutan $4,970 in cash, and he left the bank.

Cedar Rapids police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified Rutan from surveillance video. He was arrested June 20 in Overland, Mo.

Court records show Rutan was convicted on another federal bank robbery charge in 1990 for the Hawkeye Federal Savings Bank in Ogden. He was released from prison in May 2010 for that crime.

According to the plea agreement, Rutan's criminal history includes convictions on three counts of first-degree robbery with a dangerous weapon in 1968. He was also convicted of second-degree murder in 1972 and again in 1974.