GASTONIA, N.C. — The U.S. Attorney’s Office says a convicted bank robber will spend more than a decade behind bars after a robbery that happened in 2021.
Franklin Earl Lawrence, Jr., was sentenced to 141 months in prison for bank robbery and firearms offenses, the attorney’s office said Tuesday.
Police said Lawrence went up to a bank teller at a Truist branch on Union Road in Gastonia, showed a gun, and demanded money. Once he got an undisclosed amount of money, he left the bank.
Lawrence was found in a wooded area not far from the bank with a handgun. Police charged Lawrence with robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon.
He pleaded guilty to bank robbery and brandishing a firearm on Feb. 24, 2022.
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