Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Loretta Lynn Jessee pleaded guilty as part of an agreement reached with Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mark Claytor.
Police initially charged Jessee with robbery, but the charge was reduced, to larceny by person, as part of the plea agreement. Jessee received a two-year suspended sentence, Claytor said.
The night of Dec. 10, 1994, a woman in a long black coat, hood, gloves and a scarf that covered her face handed a clerk at the Subway restaurant at Lake Drive Plaza a note demanding money. She said she had a gun in her pocket but never displayed a weapon. The clerk gave her $89, Claytor said.
A Secret Service agent matched Jessee's handwriting with the note given to the Subway clerk, Claytor said.
Jessee pleaded guilty in April to two counts of robbery and five other felonies related to forging and passing bad checks. Last winter, she robbed two banks during a two-day crime spree.
On Jan. 31, she robbed the Central Fidelity Bank branch at 4143 Franklin Road.
Police captured Jessee the day after she robbed the Southwest Virginia Savings Bank branch at 2133 Electric Road. She got $2,000 from the teller, but police found her in a nearby apartment complex with red ink all over her body. A packet of red dye planted in the money had sprayed her.
Jessee told police that she robbed the banks to pay for her drug habit.
by CNB