Suspected 'AK-47 Bandit' Charged In Nebraska City Robbery

LINCOLN, NE — Robbery charges were filed in Nebraska against a Montana man suspected of being the "AK-47 bandit" in a slew of bank robberies spanning five states.

Richard Gathercole, 39, was indicted Tuesday in an August 2014 bank robbery in Nebraska City, about 50 miles south of Omaha, court records showed. Gathercole's attorney didn't immediately return a call Wednesday from The Associated Press.

FBI officials for years searched for the man who they say robbed banks in California, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska and Washington state typically while carrying an AK-47 rifle. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Gathercole, of Roundup, Montana, was arrested June 20 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.

Gathercole also faces weapons charges.

Photos credit: FBI via AP