Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410060032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When a man politely robbed a pizza delivery driver in Roanoke this summer, police believe he started a gentlemanly - but serious - 38-hour crime spree.
Just a few days before, the suspect, Phillip Sirrine, told his brother and his boss at the Salem Wal-Mart store that he was quitting his job to go out of town for a while.
By the middle of the next week, the Salem man was in jail in Albemarle County.
He's been in one jail or another every day since, including his 21st birthday.
He faces charges in Roanoke of robbery, carjacking, abduction for monetary benefit and three counts of using a firearm to commit a felony.
Wednesday, Roanoke Circuit Court Judge Cliff Weckstein set a three-day trial on those charges beginning Dec. 19.
In Albemarle County, a grand jury indicted Sirrine on charges of robbery, use of a firearm, and obstruction of justice.
Another charge of robbery is pending in Staunton.
For the family of the 21-year-old with a dry sense of humor, the charges were the beginning of a long period of confusion.
Police allege Phil Sirrine started his trip July 28, around 12:30 a.m. He is charged as the man who ordered a pizza from Papa John's on Brambleton Avenue Southwest, held up the driver who brought it, and stole $40 and her car.
"He told me that Friday [before the robberies] he bought a gun," his brother, David Sirrine, said. But since his brother was in the Marine Reserves and enjoyed target practice, he said, buying the new gun - a 9 mm automatic - did not seem unusual.
Crista Birmingham, the delivery driver, said the man who robbed her pulled out a handgun, apologized for having to steal her car, ate some of the pizza, and left her near a phone with enough change to call for help. Before he left, she said, he let her get things she needed out of the car and promised he'd try to get the car back to her. He said he was going to round up mercenaries to fight in Mexico.
Staunton police believe it was Sirrine who entered a Picway Shoe Store at 4 p.m. the same Wednesday, politely asked for an empty shoe box and forced the store's two employees into a back room at gunpoint. The man put the money in the shoe box and fled out the door.
"He told one of [the employees] to calm down and take a deep breath," Staunton police Sgt. Jim Williams said. "They both talked about how gentlemanly he was."
Albemarle County police allege it was Sirrine who struck Renee's Hair Styling in the Rio Hill Shopping Center just outside Charlottesville. There, the robber put approximately $500 in cash and checks in a shoe box and ran out, said Det. Howard Porter. The shop's manager followed him to the parking lot and got a good description of the car.
Less than a mile from the beauty shop, Sirrine was arrested by an off-duty state trooper, Porter said. He was driving the car stolen from Birmingham.
The arrest was "not without incident," said Albemarle County Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Ford Childress. Sirrine struggled with the trooper who arrested him, and the trooper said he felt a tug at his weapon during the altercation, Childress said.
David Sirrine said the only time his brother had ever spoken to a police officer before was when he got a parking ticket.
Court records in Salem, Roanoke and Roanoke County show no prior convictions for Phil Sirrine.
"We still don't understand" why his brother might have done this, David Sirrine said last month from his dorm room at the College of William and Mary. "We're clueless." He said his mother is distraught about the situation.
In January, Phil Sirrine moved out of his parents' Salem home and into an apartment on Maple Avenue near downtown Salem.
The family hadn't had much contact with his brother since then, David Sirrine said. He just seemed to be enjoying his time alone.
David Sirrine said the last time he saw his brother, just days before the crime spree, he seemed really happy. David told his girlfriend that he envied his brother's happiness.
Gary Lumsden, Phil Sirrine's attorney, said he was hired only recently and hadn't even met his client, who wasn't in court Wednesday. But Phil Sirrine's history of happiness and good behavior prompted Lumsden to ask for a psychiatric evaluation. He said the insanity defense is a possibility in this case.
The Sirrine family has lived in Salem since 1987.
Growing up, Phil Sirrine was into science fiction. When he graduated from Glenvar High School in 1991, he was a member of the school's science fiction club. One candid photo of him in his senior yearbook shows him with close-cropped hair, books stacked neatly before him as he stares intently at a sci-fi film.
After high school, Phil entered the U.S. Marine Reserves.
He spent six months in boot camp, and has been in the reserves since then. He also had been taking classes at Virginia Western Community College. School was going fine for him - not great, but not bad either - David Sirrine said. He hoped eventually to transfer to Virginia Tech.
David Sirrine isn't convinced his brother is guilty, but seems ready to accept the possibility. He said he learned of the details of the first robbery from a newspaper story. After learning of Phil's arrest, he showed the story to friends who knew his brother, who remarked that the robber's politeness sounded "just like Phil."
"He's generally polite to everyone, especially girls," he said.
David Sirrine said he's seen Phil only a few times since his arrest, as much as visitation rules at the jails allowed. In a recent letter to his brother, Phil said he's just trying to avoid confrontations and minimize his time in jail.
Phil has had little to say about his own guilt or innocence, according to David Sirrine.
Since he's been back at college, David Sirrine has been trying not to think about his brother's troubles very much. But he's resolved on one thing.
"He's a great guy," he said. "Anybody would want him for a friend, and that hasn't changed."
by CNB