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Federal trial for ‘AK-47 Bandit’ set for March in Nebraska

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January 15th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — 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, including Iowa. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that 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.