Federal trial for ‘AK-47 Bandit’ set for March in Nebraska
A federal trial in Nebraska has been pushed to March for a man suspected of being the “AK-47 bandit,” who investigators believe robbed banks in five states.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports a federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion by Richard Gathercole for a new court-appointed attorney and set trial for March 25.
Gathercole has pleaded not guilty to robbery and other charges. He’s accused of stealing more than $90,000 in August 2014 from a bank in Nebraska City, about 50 miles south of Omaha.
Officials believe Gathercole carried an AK-47 while robbing banks in California, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska and Washington.
Gathercole, of Roundup, Montana, was arrested in June 2017 near Lexington, Nebraska, after a sheriff’s deputy spotted a pickup truck that Kansas authorities had reported stolen by a man who fired at a state trooper.
