Bates

34 year old Kevin Bates of Gothenburg was sentenced Friday in Dawson County District Court in Lexington to 20 to 60 months in prison on a charge of threatening the use of an explosive device November 4th at the Tenneco plant in Cozad. In a separate case, Bates was sentenced to 20 to 60 months on a charge of making terroristic threats against a Cozad woman, both charges are class 4 felonies. The sentences are to be served consecutively. Bates was given credit for 322 days already served in jail.

In the bomb case, Bates was identified by authorities from a security camera at a Cozad service station. A Tenneco employee said she heard a man's voice say a bomb had been placed at the plant. The plant was closed and employees were dismissed for the day while the plant was searched. No bomb was found. On December 18th, about a month after he was bound over to Dawson County District Court on the bomb threat charge, he picked up a female friend in Cozad and took her to his home in Gothenburg where she was forced to remain overnight. Court records indicate Dawson County Sheriff's Investigator Cheri Saunders said the woman told her Bates threatened to kill her and her children.

Bates pleaded guilty in August to the bomb threat charge. Bates faced several other charges related to the terroristic threats charge that he pleaded NO CONTEST to in August. Prosecutors dismissed those as part of a plea agreement.