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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 10, 1995                   TAG: 9505100054
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CRACK ADDICT GUILTY OF ROBBERY, ABDUCTION

Larry W. Burrell's craving for crack cocaine was so strong the morning of Feb. 5 that he was up at 6:30 to support his habit by robbing a Roanoke convenience store.

By the time the day was over, he had robbed two more stores.

Burrell, 29, pleaded guilty to three robbery charges Tuesday, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Gardner.

Minutes after he was arrested, Burrell told the police officer, "I'm getting the money for crack," police have said earlier.

The Fincastle man also pleaded guilty to abduction, for forcing a clerk into a walk-in freezer during one of the robberies. And, as a habitual offender banned from driving, he received a one-year sentence for driving a car away from the final robbery.

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for June 28 in Roanoke Circuit Court. Burrell faces a maximum of four life sentences and will not be eligible for early release because the robberies happened after Jan. 1, when a law abolishing parole took effect.

Gardner said the robberies happened between 6:30 a.m. Feb. 5 and 12:30 a.m. Feb. 6. All three holdups - first at the Snappy Foodmart on Liberty Road Northeast, then at the Uni-Mart on Franklin Road Southwest and the E-Z-N Food Mart on Edgewood Street Southwest - fit the same basic pattern.

The robber entered the store, told the clerk he had a gun, and then forced him or her to lie on the floor or move to a different location before the robber fled with cash from the register.

None of the clerks actually saw a gun, and Assistant Public Defender John Varney said there was no evidence that Burrell was armed.

Minutes after the last robbery on Edgewood, police spotted a car matching the description given by the clerk and attempted to stop it. The car sped off, leading the officer on a chase that ended when it struck a telephone pole on Florida Avenue Northwest.

by CNB