Raleigh, N.C. — An Ohio man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for three bank robberies in North Carolina.

Terry Ira Nichols, 49, of Proctorville, Ohio, pleaded guilty in October to four counts of bank robbery. He was sentenced Thursday to 188 months in prison, followed by three years on supervised release . He also was fined $4,000 and ordered to pay $1,082 in restitution.

Nichols robbed the First Bank in Pinebluff and the New Century Bank South in Raeford on Dec. 11, 2006. Two days later, he robbed the Lumbee Guaranty Bank in Hope Mills.

Police captured Nichols after a high-speed chase that went through Hope Mills and parts of Cumberland County and ended when he crashed and flipped his car on Interstate 95.

Nichols also pleaded guilty to robbing a bank in Chesapeake, Ohio, on Nov. 27, 2006.