July 20, 2009

CHARLESTON, S.C.---One of the CSRA's most wanted is behind bars tonight. 51-year-old Cecil Stephen Haire is suspected of robbing 23 banks across the southeast, including the Security Federal Bank on Laurens Street in Aiken back on November 20, 2007 and the Carolina First Bank in Edgefield on January 3, 2008.

Investigators tell us Haire went into a bank in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina on July 17, 2009 and demanded money from the teller, getting away with an undisclosed amount.

While making a check of the local area, officers located the getaway vehicle -- a maroon Ford Explorer parked at a nursing home. The officers noticed a subject in the vehicle that matched the description of the suspect. Haire was taken into custody without incident.

Haire will be charged with the robbery and is being held at the Charleston County Detention Center.

The FBI says Haire is allegedly responsible for as many as 23 bank robberies in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama. They have been working with agencies from the various states on the investigation.

Following is a news release from the FBI:

David A. Thomas, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in South Carolina, announced that Cecil Stephen Haire of Douglas, Georgia, who was apprehended last Friday afternoon by the Mount Pleasant Police Department following a bank robbery in Mount Pleasant, SC. Haire is suspected of being the “Limping Bandit,” responsible for 23 bank robberies across the Southeast dating back to 2006. Haire was arrested on state robbery charges after a witness saw him leave the National Bank of South Carolina (NBSC) in Mount Pleasant, and provided authorities with his license plate number.

Haire is allegedly responsible for bank robberies committed throughout South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Investigators said the robber typically waited in line as a customer before each robbery, and then produced a black handgun from under his shirt as he approached a teller. The Limping Bandit earned his nickname from witness accounts that described the robber as limping while running away from various bank robberies.

The following is a list of the banks Haire is accused of robbing:

South Carolina (12):

• Regions Bank, Summerville, SC 9/11/2007
• First Citizens Bank, Orangeburg, SC 10/09/2007
• National Bank of SC, Mt. Pleasant, SC 10/25/2007
• First Federal, Charleston, SC 10/25/2007
• Security Federal Bank, Aiken, SC 11/20/2007
• BB&T, Sumter, SC 12/27/2007
• Carolina First Bank, Edgefield, SC 1/3/2008
• Bank of America, Orangeburg, SC 4/10/2008
• National Bank of SC, Summerville, SC 9/16/2008
• National Bank of SC, Charleston, SC 4/9/2009
• Regions Bank, Summerville, SC 5/11/2009
• National Bank of SC, Mt. Pleasant, SC 7/17/2009

Alabama (3):

• Colonial Bank, Enterprise, Alabama 3/13/2007
• Colonial Bank, Ozark, Alabama 9/4/2007
• Colonial Bank, Dothan, Alabama 12/19/2007

Georgia (3):

• BB&T, Tifton, Georgia 6/5/2006
• Regions Bank, Cordele, Georgia 6/20/2006
• Southwest Georgia Bank, Moultrie, Georgia 7/17/2006

Florida (5):

• Capital City Bank, Chipley, FL 11/6/2006
• Wachovia Bank, Perry, FL 5/16/2007
• Wachovia Bank, Tallahassee, FL 4/15/2008
• First Federal Bank of Florida, Lake City, FL 6/3/2008
• People’s First Community Bank, Tallahassee, FL 1/2/2009

Cecil Stephen Haire is described as follows:

DOB: 3/26/1958
Race/Sex: Caucasian/Male
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 235 lbs.
Other: **Right leg shorter than left due to Polio as a child.
**Apparel for each robbery was a collared shirt, baseball cap, and sunglasses (sometimes placing sunglasses on the bill of his hat).

The FBI jointly investigated these robberies with Aiken Dept. of Public Safety; Charleston PD; Mount Pleasant PD; Orangeburg PD; Summerville PD; Sumter PD; Lander PD; Tallahassee PD VCU; Lake City, PD; Dothan PD; Perry PD; Enterprise PD; Chipley PD; Moultrie PD; Cordele PD, and Tifton PD.

David A. Thomas, Special Agent in Charge of the Columbia office of the FBI expresses that the arrest was made possible due to the tireless efforts of the investigators, who have been working on these robberies since 2006.