Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 12, 1995 TAG: 9504120055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANN DONAHUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Loretta Lynn Jessee faces a maximum of two life sentences plus 50 years without parole after she pleaded guilty to two charges of robbery and five other felonies in Roanoke County Circuit Court.
While on probation for passing a check illegally, Jessee robbed two banks in two days.
``What I want done, I want done quietly,'' began the note Jessee handed to a loan officer at the Central Fidelity Bank branch at 4143 Franklin Road on Jan. 31. In the typewritten note, she said she had a gun, as well as a bomb in a car outside that she would detonate by remote control if her demands were not met. She escaped with more than $750.
The next day, she went into the Southwest Virginia Savings Bank at 2133 Electric Road and gave a teller a note asking for all the money in her drawer. The teller gave Jessee a bag with more than $2,000 in it - as well as a packet of red dye and tear gas that was set to explode.
A resident of Cedar Ridge Apartments called police when she saw Jessee in the parking lot of the complex with red dye over most of her body.
Jessee said when she was arrested that she was a drug user who was under the influence of cocaine, marijuana and alcohol when she robbed the Central Fidelity Bank branch. She said drugs had given her the courage to rob the second bank.
Jessee also pleaded guilty Tuesday to forging and passing two checks and to making a false statement on an application to buy a 9mm pistol. Jessee lied when she answered ``no'' to a question on the application regarding previous felonies. She also answered ``no'' to a question that asked about addiction to marijuana or other illegal substances.
A sentencing date was not set because Jessee has two grand larceny charges pending in Roanoke Circuit Court.
Jessee's lawyer for the Roanoke County charges, Mac Chambers, wants the city charges resolved before she is sentenced. He estimated that sentencing will occur in early to mid-June.
``I am hopeful the court will take in consideration her cooperation,'' Chambers said. ``I do not feel she's a threat to society.''
Chambers also said Jessee had sought drug treatment before the robberies, but the treatment center she went to was too full to admit her.
by CNB