Robbery is Cedar Rapids man’s last straw

CEDAR RAPIDS - The burly man busted through the screen door, grabbed Dino Woods around the neck and placed something cold and metallic against the back of his head, while a woman looked for Woods' wallet.

“I'm gonna give it to you,” the man said. “Don't make me give it to you.”

In a matter of minutes, Woods said, he was robbed of all the money he had - continuing a downward spiral that started for him earlier this year.

Police are investigating the robbery, which happened around 1 a.m. Saturday at Woods' residence, 385 15th St. SE. No arrests have been made.

Woods, 52, said he had been playing cards and drinking beer with two women and a man earlier in the evening. Everyone left, but one of the women returned to his door after a while. When Woods opened the door, a large, unfamiliar man barged inside and she followed.

“He just picked me up and started slinging me all over the place,” Woods said.

Meanwhile, he said, the woman rummaged around and eventually found his wallet, which had $1,200 in cash inside. Woods did not see a weapon but is certain that the cold, metallic feeling he felt was a handgun.

Woods described the man as around 6-foot-2 and possibly up to 300 pounds. He was wearing a leather jacket and bluejeans. The woman was around 5-foot-8 and 120 pounds, wearing a dark shirt and slacks.

The pair ran off and couldn't be located by the police officers who responded. Since then, Woods said, people in the area have given him first names and possible addresses nearby for the two suspects, and he's passed the information along to police.

Woods said he asked police over the weekend if they could go to the address for the suspects and question them. He said he was told that wouldn't be possible and that he could leave a voice-mail message, but the investigator assigned to the case would be off work for a few days.

By Monday afternoon, he said, he had left four voice mails but had not gotten a response from police.

“If I need to go to the mayor's office or get a picket sign, something's got to be done about this,” Woods said. “You can't just rob someone. They almost drive you to take the law into your own hands.”

Woods moved to Cedar Rapids last May from Wisconsin. He transferred to Kirkwood Community College to pursue an associate degree in architectural technology. He had never been to Cedar Rapids before and said he didn't understand when a friend told him he had moved “into the eye of the storm.”

Things started to go downhill in January when he was hurt in an auto accident. A back injury left him unable to work and required therapy in Iowa City.

Woods said he had the cash on hand to pay his rent and to cover registration and a new passenger door for his car. It will soon be illegal for him to drive, and without money or a job, he isn't sure what his next move will be. On Monday he called a plasma-donation service, asking for the $10 they promised him for referring a friend.

“Moving here has crippled me,” Woods said. “I don't have a lifeline.”

Police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said solving crimes without much evidence and no witnesses can be virtually impossible. One detective has been assigned to Woods' case. She said more resources are devoted to cases where there is “something to go on.”

“Honestly, it's very difficult,” Hamblin said. “Sometimes there's a lack of evidence. Going forward, when you find this person, then it's he-said, she-said.”

But Woods doesn't understand why police can't do more with the information he's offered. He plans to move away the first chance he gets.

“I don't feel safe over here anymore,” Woods said.