Accused bank robber’s daughter aids authorities

A document filed by an FBI agent shows that the daughter of the man who allegedly robbed a bank near Seneca gave authorities information that they were able to use to make the arrest. Jesse Ray Pate of Mountain Rest awaits trial on the charge of robbing a First Community branch May 19. In an affidavit, FBI agent Lisa Quillen said that two days after the robbery the daughter, who was not identified by name, reported her father missing. She then went to his trailer home and found a manilla envelope with red stains on it and reported what she found to the Oconee Sheriff’s Office. After handing a note to a teller, the robber was given a manilla envelope, including a dye pack. According to Quillen, witnesses saw the dye pack deploy. The daughter later learned her father was staying with a friend in Johnston County, North Carolina, and it was there that Pate was arrested. The FBI’s Quillen filed the affidavit June 4 with U-S Magistrate Jacquelyn Austin, in Quillen’s request for a ruling to establish probable cause.