ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, March 5, 1996                 TAG: 9603050045
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 


2 ROANOKE MEN ARRESTED AT DOG FIGHT LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER

Two Roanoke men have been charged in connection with a dog fight that police said was observed by about 20 people in the Hurt Park housing development.

Derrick S. Perry, 27, of Camille Avenue Northwest and Roderick L. Hancock, 29, of Westview Avenue Southwest were charged Saturday with promoting or conducting a fight between a pit bull terrier and a Labrador retriever.

Police said members of the community-oriented policing team saw two men holding dogs on leashes, encouraging them to fight as a crowd looked on about 1:15 p.m. Saturday.

The crowd scattered as police approached, and Perry and Hancock were arrested as they walked away. Promoting or conducting a dog fight is a felony in Virginia, punishable by up to five years in prison.

In other police reports Monday:

A Roanoke woman told police that a masked intruder robbed her at gunpoint Saturday night at her Panorama Drive home. Timiko S. Murrell, 22, said her boyfriend let the man in after he banged on her door about 10:45 p.m. Brandishing a handgun and then putting on a ski mask that he had brought with him, the man took $750 from the top of Murrell's dresser and then took seven rings from her fingers. The intruder left after using duct tape to tie the hands of Murrell's boyfriend.

The owner of a Roanoke convenience store was beaten and robbed Sunday morning. Rajendrakwmar Patel, owner of the Stop-N-Shop on 13th Street Southwest, told police a man entered his store about 8 a.m. to buy a piece of candy. He returned a short time later and began to beat Patel in the face and head. After failing to open the cash register, the robber fled with $30 he took from Patel's pockets.

After returning to her Westside Boulevard Northwest apartment Friday night, a 20-year-old woman found a female friend there with two men, who were packaging marijuana while seated at a table.

The woman said she ordered the men out, at which point one of them drew a pistol on her. The men left after making threats. Police later found nine plastic bags of marijuana and a handgun that had been hidden in a bush near the apartment.

Arrested were Tracy D. Thompson, 19, of Orange Avenue Northwest on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and brandishing a firearm; and Corey A. Williams, 18, of Clubhouse Drive Northwest on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and carrying a concealed weapon.


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