Blackburn accomplice pleads guilty in heist

Kim Smith

Thursday, Oct. 21, 1999 | 10:24 a.m.

A Las Vegas man who robbed an ATM bank repository with the late Timothy Blackburn last winter could get anywhere from 22 to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday.

Robert Bates, 28, pleaded guilty to armed bank robbery, carjacking and unlawful use of a firearm in connection with the Dec. 21 robbery of the Bank of America repository on Charleston Boulevard. A second unlawful use of a firearm charge will be dismissed as a result of the plea agreement.

Bates is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 20.

According to authorities, Bates and Blackburn forced three members of a cleaning crew to drive them to the ATM repository and let them in. The men then made the crew clean the repository so armored car personnel wouldn't know anything was wrong when they arrived.

When the Loomis guards arrived, they were forced to the ground and the repository was robbed of $1,088,000.

The FBI believes that Bates' gun went off when he was removing one of the guard's weapon, but Bates told U.S. District Judge Philip Pro Wednesday that it was Blackburn's gun that discharged.

The guard survived, but the fact his wound was life-threatening was factored into the plea agreement. An extra seven years were added to Bates' sentence because a gun was brandished during the robbery.

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

Pro said Bates will have to make restitution in the case as well. Between $100,000 and $200,000 of the money was never found.

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 two small daughters three weeks later when authorities found them hiding out in a motel.