Koehlhoeffer faces charges in Johnson County

A Fairfield man accused of escaping from University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in December while a jail inmate was booked into Johnson County Jail Wednesday to face charges there.

Anthony M. Koehlhoeffer, 20, faces charges of third-degree kidnapping, second-degree robbery, second-degree theft and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident.

Koehlhoeffer pleaded guilty March 14 in Scott County to robbery, theft and eluding charges and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Johnson County authorities had been waiting for that case to be resolved before charging Koehlhoeffer.

After Koehlhoeffer?s case in Johnson County is resolved, he will face charges in Jefferson County, where he is charged with a series of crimes stemming from the Oct. 3 robbery and burglary of the McDonald?s Restaurant in Fairfield and the Oct. 29 robbery of Pilot Grove Savings Bank in Packwood.

Local authorities captured Koehlhoeffer within hours of the bank robbery north of Batavia at Ash Avenue and 190th Street when a citizen called to report an individual running across a field.

While Koehlhoeffer was in the custody of the Jefferson County Sheriff?s Office, he was taken to University Hospitals in Iowa City for treatment Dec. 15. The sheriff?s office and hospital have disputed who was responsible for Koehlhoeffer while he was at the hospital, but regardless, he managed to escape.

Koehlhoeffer ran to the nearby Rienow Residence Hall and ordered a person to ?get the [explicative] out of the car,? according to a University of Iowa Police criminal complaint. The person tried to shut the door, but Koehlhoeffer hit the person in the face three to four times and left the scene with the car.

Koehlhoeffer then stole an unoccupied and running vehicle at Hawkeye Convenience in Iowa City, but crashed it a few blocks away, according to an Iowa City Police complaint. A woman offered to give him a ride to a gas station, and Koehlhoeffer got in and told her to ?drive, drive, drive? because the police were after him, police said.

Koehlhoeffer refused to get out at several gas stations, saying he needed to get to Davenport and at one point grabbed the woman by the neck. The woman said she felt if she did not take him to Davenport he would hurt her, and she thought she ?was going to die,? according to police.

He carjacked another vehicle in the Quad Cities and was eventually arrested when he crashed that car in Bettendorf.

Reprinted with permission from The Cedar Rapids Gazette.