Valentino Williams.
Here’s another urban gentleman who’s been in and out of prison since he was a juvenile.
It’s sad to think what he could have become – a doctor or lawyer, perhaps – if we’d just had mo’ money for those damn programs.
A man who had been in state custody for nearly a decade before his release 10 months ago has been charged with murder in a Wednesday bank robbery and shooting.
Valentino Williams, 35, of Coralville, is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in Kossuth County District Court. Around 8:40 a.m. Wednesday, authorities responded to calls of shots fired at Security State Bank in Lu Verne, a town of about 260 in north-central Iowa.
Jessica Weishaar, 43, of Algona was identified as the victim. Weishaar works for Security State Bank, a locally owned business with four Kossuth County locations.
Weishaar was found lying on the sidewalk in front of the bank when authorities arrived.
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Online court records reveal significant clashes with law enforcement since Williams was a teenager. He was arrested when he was 14, in 1998, and charged as an adult with robbery and theft in Davenport. He pleaded guilty of lesser charges and was sentenced in the juvenile justice system. He went to prison after he turned 18.
After leaving prison in 2008, Williams was quickly in trouble again. Iowa City police charged him after a series of robberies in 2009.
Williams broke into a Cigarette Outlet store where he confronted an employee with a handgun and demanded cash. One week later he broke into the Can Shed can recycling repository and hid in the bathroom until employees arrived.
Williams then robbed one of the employees at gunpoint then fled through two pre-cut holes in the fence, police said.
Later, police said, Williams broke into a Check Into Cash location in Coralville. Police located him in a stolen Buick. He changed vehicles and crashed into a squad car.
He was sent to prison in 2010. He was granted parole this February; he was cited for speeding in Coralville two weeks before the bank robbery.
Jessica Weishaar.