A joint law enforcement effort over the past week has resulted in the capture of the man believed to have robbed the North Bend branch of the Chase Bank with an assault rifle on July 6, 2012.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement officers from California, Nebraska and Kansas cooperated in the apprehension of Richard Lee Gathercole, 39, of Roundup, Mont., who is believed to be the AK-47 Bandit.

The FBI announced the arrest Tuesday afternoon, in a joint press conference with the police department of Chino, Calif., where the AK-47 Bandit first struck, robbing the California Bank and Trust and shooting a patrol police officer who crossed his path as he was fleeing the bank. That robbery was the first in a string that extended over five years, and through various towns in California, then in North Bend, and on to cities in Idaho, Nebraska and Iowa.

In each robbery, witnesses described a stocky white man, between the ages of 25 and 40, who carried an assault rifle into the banks, ordered the tellers to empty their cash drawers, then fled the scene with undisclosed amounts of cash. In one incident in Iowa, he reportedly used an improvised explosive device to threaten tellers. He used a grey Nissan Sentra in several incidents and a variety of other vehicles. No civilians were injured in any of the incidents, but the suspect severely wounded a Chino police officer, as well as a Kansas State Trooper.

The AK-47 Bandit had been the subject of a broad law-enforcement search for five years. After his fifth bank robbery in 2012, the FBI announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

The events leading to Gathercole’s arrest and identification as the suspect began June 19, when a Kansas State Trooper stopped his vehicle for a traffic infraction. According to the FBI report, Gathercole fled and the trooper pursued at high speeds.During the pursuit, the suspect began firing at the Kansas State Trooper with an assault rifle; Gathercole eluded the trooper, but investigators believe he crashed his vehicle then left the area.

He is believed to have stolen a truck from a nearby farm before continuing north across the Nebraska border. He was later successfully apprehended by the Dawson County Nebraska Sheriff’s Office and his crashed vehicle was recovered. Gathercole is currently being held in Nebraska on suspicion of state violations pending further investigation.

Investigators suspected, based on his description and evidence found in his vehicle, that Gathercole was responsible for the series of bank robberies linked to the AK-47 Bandit.

On June 24, a federal search warrant was served at Gathercole’s Montana home.Members of the FBI, the Chino Police Department, the Musselshell County Sheriff’s Office and the Rexburg, Idaho Police Department all took part in the search. They found numerous explosives, which were confiscated by the Billings Police Department Bomb Squad. Investigators are probing to determine if these devices were used in the commission of any crimes.

Several pieces of evidence were found that investigators believed were used in the bank robberies. Also Gathercole is known to have access to vehicles that match the description of the vehicles used to flee some of the robberies. Based on these and other factors, investigators believe that Gathercole is responsible for the bank robberies attributed to the AK-47 series.

The AK-47 Bandit series includes these robberies: Feb. 29, 2012, in Chino (California Bank & Trust); March 12, 2012, in Vacaville, Calif., (Bank of the West); July 6, 2012, in North Bend, Washington (Chase Bank); November 7, 2012, in Rexburg, Idaho (East Idaho Credit Union); and August 22, 2014, in Nebraska City, Nebraska (First Nebraska Bank). There was also an attempted robbery on March 9, 2012, in Sacramento, California, at the Tri-Cities Bank.

The North Bend bank was the only robbery Gathercole is suspected of in Washington State.