Suspect Arrested in Seneca Bank Robbery

In South Carolina, authorities have captured a suspected bank robber.

On Tuesday, May 19, a man walked into the Community First Bank in Seneca, handed the teller a note demanding money and fled out the back.

A lookout was placed by local authorities for a white male and for the suspect’s vehicle.

According to Oconee County Sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Watt, the suspect, identified as 53-year old Jesse Ray Pate of Mountain Rest, North Carolina, was arrested later that same day in Johnston County, NC near Raleigh.

Pate of Pasture Lane was charged in Oconee County, SC with Armed Robbery.  Watt said Pate allegedly took almost $6,000 from the Community First Bank.

During their investigation, Oconee County Sheriff’s investigators Pate had fled to North Carolina.

Working with North Carolina authorities, investigators found Pate’s vehicle at a home in Princeton, North Carolina in Johnston County.

Pate was booked into the Johnston County Detention Center according to the Sheriff’s Office there and awaits extradition back to South Carolina.