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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 17, 1995                   TAG: 9503170040
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ROANOKE COUNTY FIRST VIRGINIA BRANCH ROBBED

The man entered the First Virginia Bank branch at the corner of Ogden and Starkey Roads in Roanoke County about 1 p.m., said Roanoke County Detective Jeff Herrick.

The man approached a teller and demanded money, Herrick said. When the woman began to count out the money, he told her to give it to him or he'd shoot her.

Herrick said no one actually saw a weapon, but the robber made it "very plain" to witnesses that he had one.

He fled the bank on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. Police searched the area but did not find him.

This is the latest of several robberies in the area this year. Most recently, the Crestar Bank at 2230 Melrose Ave. N.W. was robbed Monday by a man who handed a bank teller a note demanding money, then placed what appeared to be a bomb on the teller's counter. The bomb was later determined to be fake.

Four days earlier, an armed man robbed the Roanoke VARO Federal Credit Union at 5005 Melrose Ave. N.W.

Herrick said several of the robberies this year remain unsolved, but it's unclear whether Thursday's robbery might be related.

Herrick said Roanoke police and the FBI, who are investigating the other robberies, have been informed of this latest hold-up.