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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 25, 1994                   TAG: 9403250158
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Michael Stowe STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BANK ROBBER PLEADS GUILTY

A man who robbed two Roanoke banks in November pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday.

Brian Edward Hall of 10th Street Northwest in Roanoke admitted holding up the First National Bank of Rocky Mount's Hershberger Road branch on Nov. 22 and the Crestar Bank branch on Melrose Avenue on Nov. 30.

In exchange for Hall's pleading guilty to the first robbery, federal prosecutors dropped the second charge.

Hall, 25, took $2,705 in the first robbery and $2,869 in the second. He told U.S. District Judge James Turk that he robbed the banks to support a crack cocaine habit.

Roanoke police detectives and federal agents arrested Hall at his Roanoke home Dec. 1.

Under questioning by the FBI, Hall also admitted robbing a bank in Columbus, Ohio, last year. He could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison and fine $250,000.

by CNB