| Fisher
pleads guilty
Ricky A. Fisher, 35, most recently of Orlando, Fla., pled guilty Tuesday, Dec. 9 to the charge of robbing U.S. Bank in Cottonwood last May. 
Fisher is scheduled to be sentenced March 3. He is subject to 20 years in prison, 3 years supervised release, restitution of more and $5,000 and a $250,000 fine. Fisher and an accomplice, Jennifer L. Balfe, 19, of Meridian, allegedly went to U.S. Bank in Cottonwood where Fisher handed the clerk a note demanding money. Fisher left with $2,324, according to court records, and the pair drove to Lewiston. They were apprehended by police at a Lewiston motel a few days later. They were initially charged in state court before the case was transferred to U.S. District Court. During a preliminary hearing in Grangeville Fisher said he had been released from prison, where he had spent 77 months for bank robbery, only two weeks before the Cottonwood incident. He told U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge he took a bus after being released from federal prison May 6 and arrived May 9 in Boise. He was driven to Ontario, Ore., according to court records, and robbed a Chase bank of $1,600. Five days later he went into a U.S. Bank in Ontario and robbed it of $1,334, according to court records. On May 16 he and Balfe arrived in Cottonwood and robbed the local U.S. Bank. Balfe pled guilty Nov. 20 to helping Fisher commit the crime and was sentenced to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Investigating the case were the Cottonwood and Lewiston Police Departments, the Idaho County and Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Departments and the FBI. |
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