U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Columbia, SC 29210-3857

May 1, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced today the arrest of William E. Cobb, age 43, of Cottageville, S.C., on federal bank robbery charges. Cobb was charged in a complaint filed on April 27, 2007, with robbing the Liberty Savings Bank in Bluffton, SC on March 29, 2007. No one was injured in the Bluffton robbery, which was investigated by the FBI, Bluffton City Police Department and the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. Cobb was arrested without incident by Deputies from the Colleton County Sheriff's Office, Officers from the North Charleston Police Department and FBI Agents on April 27, 2007.

According to FBI Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Lamkin, Cobb was identified as a suspect after a traffic stop for an unrelated offense by the Summerville Police Department. An alert police officer recognized the possibility that Cobb may have committed a bank robbery and alerted the FBI.

Cobb is suspected of committing between 37 and 40 bank robberies in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. The investigation is ongoing and includes the North Charleston Police Department, the Charleston City Police Department, the Colleton County Sheriff's Office and the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office.

Cobb appeared today before a U.S. Magistrate at Charleston and was ordered held pending a bond hearing. Prosecution of this matter is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Sean Kittrell.

A complaint is merely an accusation that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.