LAS VEGAS — The troubled son of Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols pleaded guilty Wednesday in Las Vegas to one count of kidnapping and armed robbery, which would see him serve at least five years in a Nevada prison.
Joshua Isaac Nichols and a co-defendant, George William Moya III, each pleaded guilty to felony assault charges in February 2020 in suburban Henderson to avoid trial in Clark County District Court.
Moya, 27, pleaded guilty to robbery with a deadly weapon and is expected to serve four to 15 years in state prison.
According to the written plea agreement, Nichols, 40, could face up to 17 years in prison.
Both men remained in jail Wednesday, although Nichols’ plea deal allowed him to post $50,000 bail to be released on high-level electronic monitoring for sentencing on June 14.
“We are satisfied with the outcome, and Joshua is looking forward to spending some quality time with his family,” Augustus Claus, Nicolas’ defense attorney, told The Associated Press.
Moya’s attorney, Michael Printy, did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages.
Nichols, now 40, moved to Las Vegas with his mother after the April 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City killed 168 people.
Terry Nichols, 65, is serving multiple life federal prison sentences without the possibility of parole for helping Timothy McVeigh set up the bombings. McVeigh was executed in 2001.
Joshua Nichols has been arrested and convicted several times in Nevada over the years, and previously served prison time in 2005 for felonies including armed assault, vehicle theft and resisting a police officer. He has admitted to receiving treatment for drug abuse in the past.
In Wednesday’s case, Nichols and Moya were accused of luring a 67-year-old jeweler into a vacant home in Henderson and robbing him at gunpoint of cash, jewelry, clothing and a cellphone.
