‘AK-47 bandit’ pleads not guilty to other charges
A man suspected of bank robberies in five states has pleaded not guilty to unrelated charges in Nebraska.
Station KNOP reports Richard Gathercole entered the pleas Monday in Dawson County District Court to two counts of possessing stolen firearms and one of theft or receiving stolen property. A trial starting date of Aug. 12 was set.
Authorities believe Gathercole is the man they call “the AK-47 bandit,” who’s robbed banks in California, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska and Washington.
Nebraska court documents say Gathercole was arrested June 20 at a gas station near Lexington, Nebraska. A sheriff’s deputy had spotted a pickup truck there that Kansas authorities had reported stolen by a man who’d fired at but missed a state trooper.
Lexington is 198 miles (319 kilometers) west-southwest of Omaha.
