A Maryland man, Andrew Philip Derr, has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to robbing two convenience stores and laundering money from the proceeds. Derr, 23, is originally from Fredrick, Maryland.
According to court documents, Derr was discharged from the military for misconduct in 2023 before moving to Iowa City. In a plea agreement, he admitted to committing a series of robberies in the Cedar Rapids area. On December 27, 2023, Derr robbed Casey’s General Store in Robins and took over $7,000 in cash and merchandise. He also robbed the Kum & Go store on Four Oaks Drive in Cedar Rapids on January 1, 2024. Derr had previously been convicted and sentenced in state court for robbing the Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust branch on Council Street on January 3, 2024, where he stole more than $16,000.
After each robbery, Derr laundered the stolen funds by making multiple deposits into his Maryland bank account to hide their origin and ownership. On January 3, 2024, after flying back to Maryland, he deposited over $4,800 of robbery proceeds.
When authorities attempted to arrest him at his apartment in Iowa City, they found a note that read: “Catch me if you can.” Following efforts by the United States Marshals Service to apprehend him, Derr turned himself in to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana on January 12, 2024.
Derr was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams in Cedar Rapids. He received a prison term of 34 months and 29 days. This sentence will run concurrently with his existing state prison sentence for bank robbery. The court ordered him to pay restitution totaling $24,373.09—$7,359.89 to Casey’s General Store, $308.20 to Kum & Go store, and $16,705 to Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust—and imposed a three-year supervised release following his imprisonment. There is no parole under the federal system.
The United States Marshals Service currently holds Derr until he is returned to Iowa’s prison system.
The investigation involved multiple agencies: Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; United States Marshals Service’s Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force; police departments from Cedar Rapids and Robins; Linn County Attorney’s Office; University of Iowa Police Department; and Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick J. Reinert.
