‘AK-47 bandit’ pleads guilty to Nebraska bank robbery

A Montana man dubbed the AK-47 bandit and accused of holding up banks in several states has pleaded guilty to robbing a bank in Nebraska.

Richard Gathercole could face up to 35 years in prison after admitting Monday in federal court that he used an AK-47 to rob a Nebraska City bank in 2014. The 40-year-old Gathercole also pleaded guilty to a 2017 carjacking that led to his arrest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods says the plea deal stipulates that Gathercole won’t be prosecuted by other jurisdictions for other violent crime, including the shooting of a Kansas state trooper in 2017 and bank robberies in California, Idaho, Iowa and Washington state.

Some of the crimes had passed the five-year federal statute of limitations.

Gathercole is scheduled for sentencing in June.