Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990                   TAG: 9003023454
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BRISTOL, VA.                                LENGTH: Short

MANAGER IS CHARGED IN BRISTOL BANK HOLDUP

Police Chief Tom Stone said James Edward Hughes, 28, of Abingdon, was arrested and charged with bank robbery late Thursday afternoon after detectives and FBI agents questioned him about the Wednesday night robbery. Edwards is the branch manager of a branch of Highlands Union Bank.

Warrants also have been issued for the arrest of a second man, Christopher Charles Cross, 27, of Bristol.

" . . . It took only a short while to learn that the way the incident was being reported was not in keeping with the way bank robberies happen," Stone said. "Both our department and the FBI, which were jointly investigating the case, knew something was awry.

"We learned some more information today, and Captain (Charles) Roark found the key to the case when he found where a key to the getaway vehicle used in the robbery had been made," he said. "He pursued it, and we were able to identify Mr. Hughes as the person who had the second key made."

The robbery occurred just before the bank's drive-through window was to close at 7 p.m. Wednesday, while Hughes and a bank teller were alone in the building, Stone said.

Cross allegedly stole a pickup truck and drove to the bank's drive-through window brandishing a .44-caliber handgun and demanding that the teller hand over an unspecified amount of money. - Associated Press