Waterloo Man Pleads Guilty to Robbing Bank and Assaulting a Customer

A man who robbed the Farmer’s Savings Bank in Frederika, Iowa, and pistol whipped a bank customer during the robbery pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Steven Vandewalker, 38, from Waterloo, Iowa, was convicted of one count of bank robbery and using a dangerous weapon to assault another person during the course of the robbery.

In a plea agreement, Vandewalker admitted he entered the Farmer’s Savings Bank in Frederika around 12:30 p.m. on October 23, 2012, carrying a handgun. Vandewalker was wearing a baseball cap and a mask covering the bottom of his face. After entering the bank, Vandewalker went into an office where a bank employee and a customer were talking and yelled at the two to get on the floor. Vandewalker then hit the customer in the face with the handgun, causing the customer to fall to the floor. Vandewalker then went behind the teller counter and had a teller give him cash from the drawers and the bank safe. Vandewalker then fled the bank with more than $36,000. On October 26, 2012, officers searched Vandewalker’s home in Waterloo, finding $26,000 in cash and a handgun.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Vandewalker remains detained pending sentencing. Vandewalker faces a possible maximum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and five years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Bremer County Sheriff’s Office, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office, the Waterloo Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.