ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 1996 TAG: 9609040089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI AND S.D. HARRINGTON
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on September 5, 1996.
The address for a Sparky's food store was incorrect in a story
Wednesday about an attempted robbery there. The correct address is 1607
E. Main St., Salem.
A gas station clerk who said he was robbed early Monday was later charged with embezzling the money from the South Roanoke County store.
Randal W. Davis, 37, of Roanoke also was charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor. He was in Roanoke County-Salem Jail Tuesday unable to post his $5,000 bond.
County police said Davis called officers to the Exxon gas station at 4203 Electric Road about 5:50 a.m. and reported an armed robbery. Detective T.R. Brown said Davis told them a man pumping gas walked up to the glassed-in service booth with a gun and demanded money, then fled with nearly $300.
But when police began checking the gas station's transactions that morning, they did not match Davis' allegations, Brown said. Police charged Davis later that morning after he recanted his story, Brown said.
In other incidents:
* On Monday, police charged a 19-year-old man with raping a 16-year-old girl the day before behind Westside Elementary School in Northwest Roanoke.
Donnell Dwayne Bannister, who had no listed address, was charged with rape and sodomy. He was released from Roanoke City Jail Tuesday afternoon after posting 10 percent of a $4,000 bond, according to jail authorities.
Police said the girl told them she accepted a ride home from a man early Sunday. But instead of driving her home, the man stopped in the school's parking lot to talk, became upset and punched the girl in the face. The girl got out of the car but the man caught up to her behind the school and raped her.
* A 41-year-old Northwest Roanoke man turned himself in to police Monday afternoon and was charged with robbing a Southwest Roanoke convenience store and with trying to rob a Salem convenience store. Ronald Bright was in Roanoke City Jail Tuesday, being held without bond.
The Stop N Shop Food Mart was robbed Aug. 28. The robber threatened to shoot the owner, took the cash register and fled in a black Mercedes Benz. The next night, a man walked into Sparky's at 2246 W. Main St. in Salem and demanded money from the clerk. When the clerk refused, the man fled with a six-pack of beer and a pack of cigarettes, police said.
* A 35-year-old Southwest Roanoke man was standing outside his home on the 1100 block of Chapman Avenue about 8 a.m. Monday when two men robbed him. One held a semi-automatic handgun to his mouth while the other went through his pockets. The robbers took a watch and $78.
* At 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, a 46-year-old man walking in Southeast Roanoke was hit on the head and robbed. The man was at Eighth Street and Campbell Avenue Southeast when someone knocked him unconscious and broke his jaw. About $100 was taken from the victim, who was treated at Lewis-Gale Medical Center.
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