Norred pleads guilty to five bank robberies

A Bigfork man pleaded guilty Wednesday to being the so-called “motorcycle bandit” who robbed four Western Montana banks — one of them twice.

During a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Jeremiah Lynch, Steven Dee Norred, 56, pleaded guilty Wednesday to five counts of bank robbery.

He also pleaded guilty to using a gun during the final robbery in Lakeside.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Racicot said the plea agreement calls for restitution of $88,012 — the total amount taken during the five bank robberies between September 2010 and September 2011.

Norred faces up to 25 years in prison on each bank robbery conviction, while the firearms charge carries a mandatory seven-year term.

Sentencing is set for June 28.

Norred pleaded guilty to robbing the First Interstate Bank in Bigfork on Sept. 24, 2010; Glacier Bank in Lakeside on Nov. 10, 2010; First Valley Bank in Seeley Lake on April 5, 2011; Bitterroot Valley Bank in St. Regis on May 31, 2011, and Glacier Bank in Lakeside again on Sept. 28, 2011.

The robberies were committed by a man wearing a helmet who fled on a motorcycle, dirt bike or all-terrain vehicle. Authorities dubbed the man “the motorcycle bandit.”

A customer in Glacier Bank followed the robber last September, leading to Norred’s arrest.

Norred, a former contractor, and his wife filed for bankruptcy in December 2009. The filing listed more than $2 million in debt and included the seizure or surrender of $1 million in property. The debt was discharged in March 2010, six months before the first robbery.

He is still on the Flathead District Court schedule on a local charge of felony robbery with a trial date of June 4.