LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Montana man dubbed the AK-47 bandit and accused of holding up banks in several states, including Washington, over a five-year period has been sentenced in a Nebraska federal court to 35 years in prison.
Richard Gathercole, 41, of Roundup, Montana, received the maximum sentence Wednesday in a federal courthouse in Lincoln, Nebraska, after pleading guilty in March to bank robbery.
Gathercole admitted during that plea hearing to using an
AK-47 to rob a Nebraska City bank of more than $90,000 in 2014. Gathercole also pleaded guilty to the June 2017 carjacking of a farmer in Kansas that led to his arrest the same day in Nebraska.
Gathercole was one of the most wanted bank robbers in the nation at the time of his arrest, accused of a string of bank robberies in California, Idaho, Iowa and Washington from 2012 to 2017.
After his arrest, federal agents found homemade bombs, guns and ammunition, sheriff’s badges and patches and a sheriff’s vest in Gathercole’s home.