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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 4, 1995                   TAG: 9501040097
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI AND LISA APPLEGATE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

2ND ROANOKE BANK IN 5 DAYS ROBBED

Tuesday afternoon, a man entered the First Virginia Bank branch on Virginia 419, near Southwest Plaza, and handed a teller a handwritten letter demanding money.

According to Roanoke County Police Sgt. Stan Smith, a small amount of money was given to the man, who was dressed in a black trench coat and black pants. He left the bank and began walking northwest toward Salem.

As of 7:30 Tuesday night, police had been unable to find the robber.

Smith said police were investigating the possibility that this suspect is the same man who robbed a Crestar Bank branch at Cave Spring Corners on Friday.

Both men handed notes to a teller, neither displayed any type of weapon, and both left on foot.

In the convenience-store robbery, a 21-year-old Southwest Roanoke man has been accused of brandishing a handgun and taking cash from the Brambleton Avenue Sonic Food Mart on Monday night.

Police arrested William Glen Marshall as he arrived at his Kerns Avenue home shortly after the robbery. Authorities were led to Marshall after a resident alerted them to suspicious activity near the store.

The individual told police that a small, yellow car had stopped along a side street and that a man had been seen running from the store.

In the car, police found a woman who said her boyfriend had asked her to drive him to the Sonic Food Mart for cigarettes. The woman saw him leave the car, donning a mask and pulling a silver handgun. She told police she drove away and pulled over on the side street after her boyfriend entered the store.

A clerk at the store told police that a man walked into the store holding a silver handgun and demanding that the cash register be opened.

The man then took an undisclosed amount of money and told the clerk to open another drawer.

When the clerk told the man that there was no cash there, the man fired a round from his gun and ordered the clerk to the floor. The man then fled. No one was injured.

Marshall also was charged with using a firearm in a felony and shooting into an occupied dwelling.

Memo: ***CORRECTION***