LAVONIA — Lavonia police investigators, working with officials in Oconee County, S.C., have made an arrest in a bank robbery in the city last week.
The robbery occurred after 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, at the Dill’s Food City branch of Northeast Georgia Bank, when a man produced a handwritten note demanding money and indicating he had a gun, according to Lavonia police. The teller gave the man an undisclosed amount of money and he fled the scene.
“Lavonia police investigators have worked this case diligently since the crime occurred and have followed up on many leads from community members,” a post from Police Chief Bruce Carlisle reads.
On Thursday, Jan. 18, Lavonia police received a break in the case from Oconee County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina’s investigators, who had received information on a possible suspect, according to Carlisle’s post.
“Lavonia police investigators traveled to Oconee County and conducted several interviews and determined that there was probable cause to secure an arrest warrant for the suspect,” according to Carlisle’s post. “After obtaining the arrest warrant and returning to Oconee County, Lavonia police investigators and Oconee County Sheriff’s Office investigators located the suspect at his residence. During their initial encounter with the suspect, he confessed to the bank robbery. Physical evidence was also collected from the suspect’s home that directly tied him to the robbery.”
Owen Lewis Blakely, 30, of Salem, S.C., who is originally from Franklin County, was arrested and is being housed in the Oconee County Detention Center in South Carolina awaiting extradition to Georgia.
