A Conway man who robbed a Myrtle Beach bank dressed as a woman has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve five years in prison and four years on probation, according to court records.
Derek Manquel Brice, 20, of Conway, pleaded guilty to robbery/entering bank, depository or building and loan association with intent to steal and Circuit Court Judge Larry Hyman sentenced him to seven years in prison. But Hyman suspended that sentence to five years in prison and four years probation and gave Brice credit for the time he has served.
Brice was ordered to pay court costs.
Brice was arrested in February by Myrtle Beach police, who charged him in connection with a Jan. 26 bank robbery where the suspect was dressed as a woman.
Brice was arrested Jan. 31 after a manhunt near the Conway Golf Club. A Conway police officer tried to stop the vehicle Brice was driving, and he refused to stop, crashed it into a ditch and ran into a nearby wooded area, according to authorities.
Conway police charged Brice with failure to stop for blue lights and he was taken to J. Reuben Long Detention Center where he was held until being brought to the Myrtle Beach Jail and charged in the robbery, according to officials.
Brice was identified as the suspect in the bank robbery in Myrtle Beach where a man dressed as a woman robbed a TD Bank branch located at 2003 N. Oak St., police said.
Police had been looking for Brice, who fit the description of the man who dressed as a woman in the robbery, and someone recognized him Jan. 31 at a Conway business, Catina Hipp, Conway police spokeswoman, said at the time of his arrest.
A “be on the look out” was issued on Brice’s car and that afternoon a Conway Police officer tried to stop the vehicle. Officers from the Horry County Police Department and Conway Police Department surrounded the area and searched for Brice, Hipp said.
Horry County Police officers found Brice at a residence on St. Andrews Road in Conway where he was taken into police custody without incident.
Contact TONYA ROOT at 444-1723.
