A man who crisscrossed Georgia on a weeklong robbery spree following his release from prison will spend another two decades behind bars.
Lawrence Dominique Franklin, 37, of Columbus, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty last year to several robbery charges stemming from the crime spree, prosecutors said.
That spree came to an end in December 2019 when he was arrested in Midtown after trying to force a woman into her car at knifepoint, authorities said. Following his arrest, investigators tied him to several armed robberies, including two in Atlanta and one at a Newnan bank. They also learned he had been released from prison just months earlier after serving 11 years for a previous robbery.
“A previously convicted armed robber, Lawrence Franklin, had been out of prison for barely four months before he took up a weapon and threatened store clerks and bank employees in multiple violent robberies across Georgia,” acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, David Estes, said in a news release announcing the sentence.
Two days before his 2019 arrest, Franklin robbed a Subway on Moreland Avenue and a Dollar Tree on Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard within the span of about six hours, Atlanta police said previously.
And the day before that, Franklin attempted to hold up a Wells Fargo in Newnan by flashing a pistol in his waistband and handing the teller a note instructing her to open the safe, authorities said.
Federal prosecutors said Franklin’s crime spree began a week before his arrest when he robbed a Wells Fargo in Columbus while wearing a fluorescent construction worker vest. Before stealing cash from multiple teller stations, he reportedly pointed a gun at the manager and threatened to “blast” several of the bank’s employees.
On Thanksgiving three days later, he robbed a Dollar General in Savannah while wearing the same construction vest, authorities said. In that case, he forced an employee to open the safe and helped himself to more than $6,000.
“In the course of a week, Lawrence Franklin charted a path of violence and mayhem from one end of Georgia to the other,” said Kurt Erskine, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. “Thankfully, quick and collaborative action on the state and federal levels led to the defendant’s capture and has brought him to justice.”
Franklin will be required to serve five years of supervised release after completing his prison sentence, prosecutors said.
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