Occupy Protestor 'Nature Dave' Wants a Trial

Dave Gorczynski, the Occupy Easton protester known to friends as "Nature Dave," wants his day in court.

Last year, Gorczynski was arrested after police say he brought a sign bearing the slogan "You're being robbed" into two downtown Easton banks.

On Thursday, he had been ready to apply for the accelerated rehabilitative disposition, or ARD, program for first-time offenders.

But as the Express-Times reported, Gorczynski apparently changed his mind at the last minute and said he wanted to take his case to trial.

Gorczynski, 22, of Easton was arrested last August while protesting both inside and outside the Wells Fargo and Bank of America branches in downtown Easton. According to police, he wore a bandanna—at times allowing it to cover his face, District Attorney John Morganelli said -- and carried two signs.

One read "You're being robbed;" the other said "Give a man a gun, he'll rob a bank. Give a man a bank, he'll rob a country."

Gorczynski has said his message wasn't aimed at the bank but rather to its customers: This bank is robbing you.

He was arrested outside the Bank of America—after he'd left after being asked to do so by the manager—and charged with two counts each of attempted robbery, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct.

Morganelli later dropped the attempted robbery charges and has said his office doesn't plan to seek jail time for Gorczynski if he's convicted or pleads guilty.

The robbery charges were dropped, Morganelli said last year, because there was no evidence Gorcynski intended to rob a bank. But he also added that people in the bank had reason to be frightened by a man wearing a bandanna holding a sign that read "You're being robbed."

Defense attorney Phil Lauer has said his client simply chose "an artistic, unusual, maybe annoying way" of protesting.