Former Iowa State student, DeAnglo X, who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $21 million in cashier’s checks from an Ames bank, wants to withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial.

A U.S. District Court judge in Cedar Rapids canceled sentencing for X, whose original name is DeAnglo Moore, after X’s request on Thursday.

X was arrested in Atlanta, Ga., earlier this year after almost two years on the run. In January of 1994, X pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and one count of possessing and disposing of stolen property. He fled before his original sentencing date on April 22, 1994.

X and his wife, Cassandra Moore, stole bank cashier’s checks from Firststar Bank in Ames where they were janitors at the bank. They filled the checks in for more than $21 million and attempted to cash the stolen checks at banks and a car dealership, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen Rapp. Cassandra Moore is still at large. On Thursday, April 11, X appeared for sentencing and asked to remove his attorney, Brad Briscoll, and withdraw his guilty plea. The judge denied his request for a new attorney and requested that his motion to set aside his guilty plea be put in writing before a decision is made within the next three to four weeks, Rapp said.

Rapp said it is not uncommon for those facing federal sentencing to seek to withdraw guilty pleas, but such requests usually do not prevail.

“I don’t recall any case in the time I’ve been a U.S. attorney where someone has been permitted to withdraw a guilty plea,” Rapp said.

Rapp said right now X faces tough sentencing guidelines of 78 to 90 months “of hard time.”

“But he’s already pled to counts which would put the sentences higher,” Rapp said. However, Rapp said the judge may reduce the sentencing for the charges of fraud to under 78 months because “the actual loss was relatively small compared to the potential loss considering the financial instruments which he did have.”

X also faces charges for obstruction of justice and missing a sentencing date, Rapp said. While a student at ISU in the fall of 1993, X had been barred from an African-American history class for being disruptive.

X claimed the professor, Christine Pope, was racist and had been critical of the Nation of Islam, of which X was a member. X’s expulsion from the class sparked a series of silent protests in Pope’s classroom.