Three men have been convicted for a 2016 North Myrtle Beach bank robbery and shooting at officers during a chase.
Lance Hardiman, Justin Pressley, and Rodrick Berklery were convicted in federal court for robbing the South State Bank in North Myrtle Beach in May 2016, according to a press release from Sherri A. Lydon, United States District Attorney for the District of South Carolina. A district court judge found Hardiman guilty of “armed bank robbery, witness tampering, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and two counts of using a firearm in furtherance of crimes of violence.”
“Evidence presented during the trial showed that on May 4, 2016, the three defendants—Hardiman, Pressley, and Berklery—armed with handguns and wearing gloves and masks, robbed the South State Bank in North Myrtle Beach,” states the release. “After entering the bank, Hardiman stood at the door while Pressley and Berklery fired their weapons and jumped over the counter. They forced the tellers to empty their tills into a bag, threatening the women’s lives. The men obtained over $30,000 and fled the bank. Bank employees were able to trip a silent alarm and place a dye pack in the bag, and they identified the type of car that the men got into as a silver Chevrolet Impala.”
While responding to the call, a North Myrtle Beach Police Department detective saw a silver Impala with three men inside, according to the release. When the officer turned his blue lights on, the car “took off at high speeds.”
“The officer followed the Impala for approximately five miles as Pressley fired an AK-47 out of the back window at the officer and Hardiman shot out of the passenger’s window. As the chase wound through a residential community, the suspects reached speeds of over 80 miles an hour while indiscriminately shooting at the officer and passing motorists,” the release also says. “Hardiman, Pressley, and Berklery proceeded towards Longs, where one of them lived. They kept firing at the officer, hitting his vehicle twice. One round missed the officer by less than an inch. The officer thought he had been hit and crashed his car.”
The three men continued driving and a NMBPD lieutenant deployed spike strips “in an effort to end the high speed chase.” Hardiman reportedly “fired out the window at the lieutenant, hitting his car, as Berklery swerved to miss the spike strip. Berklery lost control of the car and drove it off the road.” The three men then ran from the scene in a wooded area.
Law enforcement agencies began a search for the suspects, the release says. Hardiman “was captured several hours later walking out of the woods. He had stripped down to just shorts and had scratches and scrapes, apparently from running through brush. Berklery was captured approximately 11:30 p.m. in a junkyard wearing just his boxers and no shoes.”
“During the trial, it was revealed that two of the members of this robbery crew had previously robbed another bank in Horry County and a restaurant,” adds the release.
Hardiman faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years “to run consecutive to any other sentences imposed and a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.” He will be sentenced at a later date.
Pressley “pled guilty to using a firearm in furtherance of a bank robbery and witness tampering and agreed to a 25-year federal prison sentence.”
Berklery “pled guilty to using a firearm in furtherance of a bank robbery and in furtherance of witness tampering and agreed to a 30-year sentence.”
