SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A Ukrainian immigrant said he never thought about the trauma he caused people while robbing them at gunpoint but does take responsibility for the crimes that sent him to prison for at least 32 years.

"Life's over. I wish I would have did things different. Money's not the most important thing no more. I realized that too late," Yuri Chachanko, 26, once described as the worst offender in state reform school, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Chachanko, of Sioux Falls, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Rapid City to using a gun while robbing the LaCrosse Street Casino June 5, 2004 in Rapid City.

It was one of 15 counts against him and an accomplice for five casino robberies, including places in Watertown and Sioux Falls.

Last year, he acknowledged his guilt but withdrew the plea, claiming the federal government violated an agreement to transfer him to another jail. Prosecutors objected but a federal judge allowed it and scheduled the case for trial next month in Rapid City. Chachanko instead pleaded guilty again.

He was ordered to pay $19,586 in restitution and will serve a 25-year federal sentence after he fulfills his time on an 18-year state sentence in Montana for two casino robberies after the South Dakota stickups.

Chachanko will be eligible for release at age 58, said his lawyer, Bob Van Norman.

"I fell in love with the easy money," Chachanko said. "Somehow something happened. I fell in love with money and started chasing it. My whole life was chasing it."

Chachanko, who moved with his family from the Ukraine to Sioux Falls when he was 7, first pulled a loaded gun on someone at age 15. In July 1997 he robbed a Worthing bank of $20,000 by holding a large handgun to the teller's head and threatening to kill her.

The teller, Judy Zahn, told Chachanko at a July 1998 bond hearing that the crime still haunted her.

"It took 56 seconds for the robbery to take place, but it's affected my entire life," she said.

"The fear you have after having a gun pointed at your head, you can't describe it," said Zahn. "And the threats he's made against me is even worse."

Zahn, who no longer works as a teller, said Friday she did not want to comment about Chachanko's sentencing.

Information from that case showed he first got into trouble at age 12 for stealing. His contacts with police and juvenile court became frequent and included more stealing, assaulting a fellow student with a switchblade, assaulting a store manager who tried to stop him from stealing, and numerous instances of breaking the rules in reform school. A Corrections Department official once said Chachanko was the worst offender in a state reform school.

Lawyer Scott Abdallah, who prosecuted the bank robbery, echoed that.

"I can tell you that in seven years of being the state's attorney in Lincoln County, I certainly considered him one of the more dangerous people that we came across," he said.

After a couple of intermediate appeals to the state Supreme Court, Chachanko ultimately was charged as an adult, pleaded guilty in February 1999 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

A year later he asked the judge to reduce his sentence, saying: "I just want to be a good citizen now. … I'm sincerely serious when I say I'm never going to get in trouble again."

Despite opposition from the prosecutor and bank official, Judge Richard Bogue in April 2000 cut Chachanko's prison time in half by suspending the five-year sentence for robbery. He left in place a mandatory five-year sentence for committing a felony with a firearm.

Chachanko said that after getting out, he stayed out of trouble but eventually slipped.

"Somehow my mind changed and I decided to do it again. Somewhere in there I don't know what happened. I guess I didn't learn my lesson," he said.

In the summer of 2004, Chachanko and accomplice Chuoi Sam robbed seven casinos in two states.

The first string included the one in Rapid City, another in Watertown, and three in Sioux Falls. Those are the crimes for which Chachanko was sentenced in federal court. Sam also pleaded guilty Thursday to one of the counts against him and was sentenced to just under six years in prison and $7,000 restitution.

Days after the South Dakota holdups ended, the pair hit a casino in Billings, Mont., in which Chachanko forced seven people to the floor at gunpoint, and another in Columbus, Mont. One of the guns used in both robberies was stolen from the casino security guard in Rapid City.

Chachanko now will serve an 18-year sentence for those crimes. Sam was sentenced to 11 years.

U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley of Sioux Falls said the effects of Chachenko's crimes linger.

"No matter what an armed criminal intends the result to be, the act of robbery is inherently violent. This defendant showed an escalating pattern of violence that may well have led to serious injury or death," Jackley said. "His sentences exceed 44 years and represent the seriousness of his criminal conduct and the trauma his victims have endured."

Chachanko said that despite threatening the victims, he never would have used a gun on anyone if they refused to cooperate with him because he's not violent.

"I would never hurt anyone. I never thought about the emotional trauma and stress that I caused them and I'm sorry for that," he said.

Chachanko said he avoided "mom and pop" businesses and destroyed any personal checks mixed in with the cash he took so the people who wrote the checks didn't lose money.

"I have a soft heart because anytime I see poor people or people who are suffering, I want to help them. And that sounds funny coming from me but I'm not a greedy bastard," he said.

"I finally committed my life to God," Chachanko said.

"I've got my faith and God knows my heart," he added. "Only God can help me now."