A 25-year-old man arrested in Oklahoma after an alleged multi-state crime spree has been linked to the June assault of a woman at a Columbia Road bank, police say.

The Orangeburg victim said she was relieved to learn of the suspect’s arrest.

“He’s preying on women because he can overpower them,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified.

The Orangeburg Department of Public Safety has obtained two warrants against Norman Emanuel Pauling of Florence in connection with the assault and robbery outside Community Resource Bank. He was arrested July 7 by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol in Clinton, Okla., about 50 miles west of Oklahoma City.

Police allege Pauling began a multi-state rampage with the June 19 robbery in the Garden City.

About two weeks later, on July 1, a woman was robbed at a Santee fast food restaurant. About 30 minutes after that robbery was reported, a gunman entered the Money Express Service in Manning and held a semi-automatic weapon to the clerk’s head.

The suspect allegedly pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired -- so he beat the clerk. He also allegedly beat another person who tried to help.

Authorities pursued the man from Clarendon County to Florence before he crashed into a State Transport Police vehicle and ran into some nearby woods.

Evidence found inside the abandoned vehicle helped law enforcement piece together a trail that led back to Orangeburg, police say.

“Some of the items had been recovered in the vehicle,” said ODPS Capt. Mike Adams. “Two investigators went to Florence and processed the car and were able to develop forensic evidence conclusively linking Mr. Pauling to the (Orangeburg) robbery and assault.”

The Orangeburg woman remains shocked that such a violent robbery could happen in broad daylight.

“At 9 o’clock at night? I can understand it,” she said. “But 3:30 in the afternoon? No.”

The woman said that when she arrived at the Columbia Road bank to make a deposit, she didn’t see anyone in the parking lot. But near a treeline about 50 feet away, she heard a rustling noise and then a “thunk.”

“And I turned and then went on walking,” she said. “He had been sitting in a tree waiting. Then he jumped out of the tree and I could see him” peeping around the side of the tree.

Thinking it was a local kid climbing trees, the woman went on walking.

“Then I heard footsteps and he was just a running at me,” she said.

As she turned to face him, her assailant struck her in the back of the head causing her to fall to the ground, she said.

Her face struck the ground with such force that three bones broke in her cheek. The woman also suffered a concussion and a severe laceration to the back of the head, in addition to the broken facial bones.

The man then ran off with the woman’s deposit.

The woman still makes the company deposits, but says she frustrated that she has to adhere to safety precautions such as traveling with a co-worker and calling police.

“Get an escort (from police) like we do,” she says. “And check the trees.”

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516.

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