Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 20, 1995 TAG: 9504200073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BREEA WILLINGHAM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Police have arrested and charged four suspects - Vernon Ricardo Cooper, Donald Parrish Smith, Leslie Melissa Gross and Deborah Sands, all of the Washington, D.C., area - with grand larceny.
According to store manager Tina Spangler, two men and two women walked into the store Tuesday afternoon. While she and a sales clerk were distracted by the two women, one of the men stole the tray of rings and ran out of the store.
"I chased the one gentleman with the tray to the car, and the others followed," Spangler said.
Roanoke and Roanoke County police are investigating the possibility that the four suspects in the Lemons' Jewelry robbery may have been involved in other robberies in the Roanoke Valley in the past year.
"It's very possible they've traveled around the area," said Detective Chris Nielsen of Roanoke County.
An off-duty rescue worker chased the fleeing car along Ogden Road, Virginia 419 and the Roy L. Webber Highway. A Roanoke police officer who was on radar duty on the Roy L. Webber Highway also joined the chase. The car pulled off the highway at Wonju Street and two men fled a short distance on foot.
Police found 11 of the rings Tuesday in grass along Broadway Street Southwest, near the Cycle Systems recycling center, and another ring in the car. Police dogs and metal detectors were used to help search the area for the two missing rings.
"We have not found the rings yet, but we're going to search the car again," Nielsen said. "We're not overly encouraged, though. I think we've found everything we're going to find."
Spangler said she'll "always be apprehensive" about being robbed again, and from this experience she has learned to "be more alert, if that's possible."
by CNB