MIAMI --A Florida man has pleaded not guilty to federal firearms and robbery chargesin the theft of $4.8 million in gold bars from a truck along a remote stretch of North Carolina highway.

Adalberto Perez entered the plea during a brief hearing Thursday. Trial is tentatively set for May.

Prosecutors want to seize vehicles, cash, homes, guns, a boat and jewelry they say are traceable to the 2015 heist of 275 pounds of gold bars.

The FBI says Perez used a GPS device to track the tractor-trailer heading from Miami to Massachusetts. Investigators say pepper spray was released by remote control to sicken the driver and a passenger before the robbery by three armed thieves along Interstate 95 in North Carolina. They fled in a van.

More arrests are expected.