Convicted robbery driver gets 25 years in prison

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - A Fort Madison man was sentenced to the maximum 25 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in a 2016 armed robbery of a Fort Madison bank.

Kenneth Lee Lilly, 52, was sentenced by District Court Judge Mary Ann Brown to 25 years after being convicted of aiding and abetting 1st degree armed robbery in September.

The crime is a Class B Felony with a maximum sentence of 25 years. However Lilly would be eligible for parole after 17.5 years according to the 70% rule.

Lilly was arrested in October of 2017 and was accused of dropping Lafayette Antonio “Tony “ Evans off in a maroon GMC Suburban at the then Fort Madison Bank & Trust's west branch on June 29 of 2016. Evidence produced at the September 2017 trial showed he then left the immediate area, traveling down Avenue L and stopping at McDonald’s for a pop. Lilly then gathered his kids and headed to Rockford where he stayed until July 6.

Lilly maintains that he was running errands in Fort Madison for most of the morning with his children in the Suburban, filled up with gas at Casey’s, and then headed to Illinois. He maintained throughout the trial that he didn’t drop off Evans at the bank, had little knowledge of his past trouble, and was trying to help Evans while he stayed at his home.

Evans was shot dead after running from the bank with several bags of cash and taking shots at a Lee County deputy before being shot in the chest by Fort Madison Police officers. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The officers were cleared by the Iowa Attorney General’s office of any wrongdoing in the shooting.

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