BANK ROBBERY WAS A BOMB; JAIL EFFORT A HIT

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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 2, 1993                   TAG: 9302020290
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
BANK ROBBERY WAS A BOMB; JAIL EFFORT A HIT
Perley Andrew Perkins pleaded guilty to bank robbery Monday, telling authorities he did it because he wanted to go to jail for something he did.
Perkins told federal authorities he felt he had been wrongly convicted of robbing a Roanoke store last year and decided that as long as he was going to jail, he may as well go ahead and rob a bank.
He picked Crestar Bank's Salem Plaza Branch in the 4200 block of Melrose Avenue on the afternoon of Aug. 11.
He walked up to a teller with his hands in his pocket and demanded money. When the teller didn't move quickly enough, Perkins said "I've got a gun, and I'll kill you," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant said.
The teller handed Perkins a packet of bills containing $1,800 and an anti-robbery device designed to explode and cover the stolen money with red dye.
Perkins stuffed the money in his pocket and walked out of the bank. A short way down the street the dye bomb exploded, covering Perkins in red and tossing money into the air.
While passers-by snatched bills as they swirled in the air and along the ground, Perkins took off his jacket and shirt and walked bare-chested a few blocks down the street.
He stopped at a friend's house and sat down under a tree.
In the meantime Roanoke police happened to see the still-slightly-red Perkins and then heard the bank robbery alert.
Officers walked up to Perkins and asked him why he had red dye on his body and pants.
"I work at a tool-and-die shop," Perkins replied.
That didn't work either.
And unfortunately for Perkins, he now may have an additional 20-year federal sentence added to the 17-year sentence he got in September for the store robbery he says he didn't commit.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB