FORT DODGE – An Iowa teen who robbed a Kum & Go store with a black BB gun and got away with less than $300 will spend up to 10 years in prison.
On Monday, February 8, 2016, Robert Kaleb Simacek appeared in Webster County District Court and pled guilty to Robbery in the Second Degree as originally charged by the Fort Dodge Police Department. Simacek, 17, admitted that on November 10, 2015, he went to the Kum & Go convenience store located at 115 N. 22nd Street in Fort Dodge and demanded money from the clerk. Simacek stated that he pointed a black BB gun at the clerk to threaten and scare her so that she would give him money from the cash register. According to police reports, the clerk complied with his demands to open the cash register, and Simacek took approximately $270 and left the store.
District Court Judge Kurt Stoebe accepted Defendant’s guilty plea to the charge of Robbery in the Second Degree, a class “C” felony, and then sentenced Simacek to 10 years in prison, which is the maximum period of incarceration allowed by law. At the conclusion of the hearing, Simacek was remanded to the immediate custody of the Webster County Sheriff for transport to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center at Oakdale, Iowa, to serve his prison sentence.
Although Simacek admitted to using a BB gun during the commission of the robbery, this does not rise to the level of Robbery in the First Degree. In order to prove Robbery in the First Degree, the State is required to affirmatively prove that the Defendant was armed with a dangerous weapon, which is defined as a weapon capable of inflicting death upon a human being.
When the weapon used during the commission of the offense isn’t recovered, it is often impossible to prove that the weapon was a real, functioning firearm, or was capable of inflicting death. Iowa law does not provide for a stricter penalty if a fake gun or BB gun is used, so Robbery in the Second Degree was the appropriate charge in this case.
The State of Iowa was represented by Webster County Attorney Jennifer Benson. This case was investigated by the Fort Dodge Police Department’s Patrol Division and Criminal Investigations Division.
