Montana Man Enters Pleas of Guilty to Multiple Bank Robberies in the Midwest, Northwest and West

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Richard Gathercole, of Montana, entered pleas of guilty in federal court in Lincoln on March 11, 2019, to the charges of bank robbery, brandishing a firearm during a bank robbery, and carjacking. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Zwart set sentencing before Chief Judge John M. Gerrard on June 5, 2019, in Lincoln.

On June 19, 2017, Gathercole fired shots at and ultimately eluded a Kansas Highway Patrolman. Gathercole crashed his vehicle and carjacked a citizen who stopped to offer assistance. Gathercole was arrested in Dawson County, Nebraska in the stolen vehicle. A search of the car Gathercole abandoned in Kansas located an AK-47 rifle and a homemade bomb. GPS from a Garmin in the vehicle placed the device at a bank robbery in Nebraska City in 2014 and another in Iowa in 2015. The AK-47 was observed in the Nebraska robbery as well as bank robberies in North Bend, Washington; Rexburg, Idaho; and Mason City, Iowa along with two other bank robberies and one attempted robbery in California. The AK-47 was traced to a bank robbery in Chino, California in February 2012. During this robbery, a police officer was shot in the femur.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.