BRANDON LEE MARTIN The 23-year-old Gaffney man accused of an attempted bank robbery and the robbery of a local truck stop already was on probation at the time he allegedly set out on a crime spree last Wednesday morning in a Mitsubishi Gallant that he allegedly took from a woman without her consent.

In fact, Cherokee County court records show Brandon Lee Martin, of Maggie Drive, had appeared before a Circuit Court judge on Aug. 11 when he pleaded guilty to use of a vehicle without owner's consent — apparently for taking the same Mitsubishi vehicle from the same Beech Street woman last May 18.

Martin was sentenced Aug. 11 by Judge Roger Couch to a suspended prison sentence and one year of probation, which the judge ruled would be served concurrently with another probationary sentence Martin received from a different judge April 23.

On April 23, court records show Martin pleaded guilty to a third or subsequent offense of property crimes for a Nov. 8, 2008, shoplifting incident at Walmart on West Floyd Baker Boulevard. Circuit Court Judge Derham Cole sentenced Martin on the shoplifting charge to a suspended prison sentence under the Youthful Offender Act and gave him three years of probation, court records show.

In both the attempted robbery of the bank and the robbery of Norma's Truck Stop, witnesses told police the robber was wearing an orange ski mask over his face and a camouflage coat. Gaffney Police allege that Martin obtained the ski mask and jacket by shoplifting them from Wal-Mart.

Martin, who was denied bond on the far more serious charge of armed robbery, had not been charged with shoplifting those items from Walmart as of last week.

Martin also was charged with the state offense of entering a bank with intent to steal for the attempted robbery of the First Piedmont Federal Savings and Loan on West Floyd Baker Boulevard. His bond was set at $50,000 on that charge.

A check of SLED criminal records showed Martin has had numerous run-ins with the law since 2003.

The SLED records also show convictions on a 2003 criminal domestic violence charge; misdemeanor drug, alcohol and seat belt offenses in 2005; a misdemeanor charge related to the alteration of a license or sale of a fictitious license and public disorderly conduct in 2006; a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2007; misdemeanor charges of speeding, resisting arrest, leaving a gas station without paying, petty larceny, entering premises after warning and a window tint violation in 2008; and a third or subsequent property offense, resisting arrest and malicious damage to personal property in 2009.