Solicitor David Pascoe said Thursday his office will seek to bring alleged bank robber Frank Douglas to trial in this jurisdiction before he faces charges elsewhere.

The 49-year-old Beech Island man is accused of going on a bank robbery spree from Summerville to Clinton during a two-week period.

“He is looking at a possible life without parole in South Carolina,” Pascoe said. “Therefore, I want to see if we can bring him back here in the First Circuit.”

Douglas was captured at a Decatur, Ga., motel on Saturday by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

The FBI said Douglas, who was at the motel with a female friend, was taken into custody without incident.

Authorities allege Douglas robbed eight banks in South Carolina, including one in Orangeburg on Oct. 14. Two hours prior to the SCB&T robbery in Orangeburg, a man robbed the First Citizen’s Bank in Summerville.

While those two banks are in Pascoe’s First Circuit, the alleged crime spree crossed multiple jurisdiction lines.

Typically, the most serious charge would be taken up by the courts first. But all the charges Douglas is facing are serious.

Aiken County, the city of Columbia and the city of Cayce are also holding warrants against Douglas.

Pascoe said he’s going to meet with the solicitors representing those judicial circuits to decide where Douglas will be tried first.

“I’m going to work with them and their offices so as to see who gets the first bite of the apple,” Pascoe said. “He (Douglas) was a busy man.”

Should Douglas be found guilty on two of the charges against him, he would fall under the Palmetto State’s two-strikes law. That would result in an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.

“The odds of getting acquitted on seven of these charges is slim,” Pascoe said. “Not to mention, he’s likely facing federal charges.”

Pascoe said state sentencing guidelines for bank robbery are tougher than the federal guidelines. If Douglas is convicted in state court, any potential federal charges may then become moot.

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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