Two plead guilty in ATM-vault robbery

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999 | 11:46 a.m.

Two Las Vegas residents pleaded guilty Monday in connection with the robbery of an ATM repository last December.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Schiess said Riley Bates, 24, and Naomi Stachowsky, 21, pleaded guilty to possession of stolen bank funds. The pair are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Philip Pro Nov. 12.

According to authorities, Riley Bates' brother, Robert Bates, 26, and Timothy Blackburn, 26, robbed a Bank of America ATM repository of more than $1 million in December.

More than $50,000 in cash from the robbery was found in a trailer shared by the Bates brothers, Stachowsky and several others.

Investigators said most of the money was found in several bushel bags stuffed in a doghouse in Blackburn's back yard.

On Dec. 21, 1998, three members of a family that works for a janitorial cleaning service were kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to the vault where cash is kept for ATM machines.

Using the janitors' keys, the robbers broke into the repository and waited for a Loomis truck to arrive to pick up cash from the vault. A Loomis guard was injured during the robbery, but his wound was not life-threatening.

Bates' and Blackburn's trial has been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 20.

Should Riley Bates and Stachowsky assist prosecutors during the trial, Schiess said he will recommend a more lenient sentence for them.