Serial bank robber gets more prison time

MUSCATINE - An Iowa City man who admitted to nearly a dozen robberies across eastern Iowa was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for robbing a bank in Muscatine.

Jay Harkless, 25, had earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery. He admitted robbing a Central State Bank branch in the Muscatine Hy-Vee store on December 16, 2009.

In November, Harkless was sentenced to 20 years in prison for four robberies in Johnson County, three of them at banks. Harkless still faces six robbery charges in Black Hawk County. In all, Harkless has admitted to or is accused of 11 separate robberies in Iowa City, North Liberty, Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Muscatine over a seven-month period from May 2009 to January 2010, stealing between $60,000 and $70,000