Franklin Keith Dotson

Franklin Keith Dotson will spend more than four years in prison for robbing the WesBanco branch in Pine Grove.

The 26-year-old New Martinsville man was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Wheeling by Judge Frederick P. Stamp Jr. to four years and three months behind bars. Dotson had pleaded guilty March 7 to one count of bank robbery for the Feb. 7 incident.

According to U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II, Dotson’s term will be followed by three years of supervised release.

According to FBI Special Agent Lawrence Quigley, Dotson admitted to the robbery after initially denying he had been in the area of the bank at the time of the crime. Quigley added that Dotson said financial needs prompted him to commit the robbery.

About 9:15 a.m., Feb. 7, Dotson entered the WesBanco wearing a wig, safety glasses, and a bandanna and demanded money from a bank teller. Officials said Dotson told the teller she should forfeit the money if she wanted to go home that evening. He reportedly kept one hand in his pocket during the incident, giving the teller the impression he was holding a pistol.

Wetzel County Sheriff James Hoskins said no one was injured in the robbery.

Monroe County law enforcement arrested Dotson a short while later, when he was seen driving a vehicle matching the description of that used to flee the scene of the robbery.

A search of the vehicle revealed a curly wig, bandanna, BB gun, and a lock-box containing more than $6,000. Included in that sum of cash were “bait bills,” or traceable bills used by banks in the event of a robbery.

“There was a great team effort by law enforcement agencies to apprehend the suspect,” Hoskins said previously, citing the work of law enforcement from Wetzel and Monroe counties as well as the Tyler County Sheriff’s Department, New Martinsville Police Department, FBI, and West Virginia State Police. He also commended the federal prosecutor for resolving the matter so efficiently. “It showed that all agencies will work together to get the job done so we can keep the public as safe as we can.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert H. McWilliams Jr.

Dotson was remanded June 7 to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending designation to a federal institution.