CEDAR RAPIDS – An Iowa man who robbed a bank in Springville last year was sentenced today to five years in federal prison. Joseph Jay Kripner, age 46 of Monticello, received the prison term after an August 21, 2018 guilty plea to one count of bank robbery.
On June 1, 2018, which was Kripner’s birthday, Kripner robbed the Security State Bank in Springville, Iowa. During the robbery, he displayed what appeared to be a gun to a teller and told her not to make him point the gun at her. The teller provided Kripner with $3,988 in cash in a plastic shopping bag and he then fled the scene. With the help of the “Crimestoppers” tip line, law enforcement officers later compared photographs of Kripner on his Facebook page and prior booking photographs with surveillance camera footage from the bank. The booking photographs showed that Kripner has a distinctive tattoo on the right side of his neck, depicting red lips with the word “Always” written above the lips and the word “Loved” written below the lips.
Kripner fled to Colorado after robbing the bank. On June 18, 2018, National Park Service Rangers arrested Kripner in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Kripner was found near the same car he used in the bank robbery, and the Park Rangers discovered $589.36 in cash, marijuana, live ammunition, and the pellet gun Kripner used in the robbery.
Kripner was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Kripner was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment. He was ordered to make $3,988 in restitution to the bank. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Kripner is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tim Vavricek and was investigated by the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Rocky Mountain National Park Rangers.
