Hearing delayed for ATM robbery suspect

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 1999 | 10:38 a.m.

A change-of-plea hearing for a man charged along with the late Timothy Blackburn of robbing an ATM repository was postponed for the second time Monday.

Robert Bates, 26, was scheduled to plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Philip Pro, but Assistant Federal Public Defender Vito de la Cruz failed to appear in court. A phone call to his office revealed that de la Cruz was in court in Reno.

Monday's was the second change-of-plea hearing scheduled in the Bates case. The original date of Oct. 6 was pushed off until Monday when de la Cruz called from Reno to say he was unable to make the hearing.

A new hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday.

Bates faces charges of robbing a Bank of America ATM repository of more than $1 million in December.

Most of the money was found in a dog house at Blackburn's house and more than $50,000 in cash was found in a mobile home shared by Bates and his brother, Riley, 24, and Naomi Stachowsky, 21.

Authorities say Robert Bates and Blackburn forced three janitors into a vault at gunpoint, used their keys to break into the repository and then robbed a Loomis armored car guard when he arrived.

Riley Bates and Stachowsky pleaded guilty to possession of stolen bank funds in August and are scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 12.

Blackburn escaped from the North Las Vegas Detention Center while awaiting trial. He killed himself, his wife and his two small daughters three weeks later after authorities found them hiding out in a motel.