ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, November 24, 1996              TAG: 9611220018
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: 1    EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER 

THEY TOOK THE PIZZAS, THE MONEY AND THEN THREATENED TO TAKE HIS LIFE

The house where Mark Callahan was robbed fit the profile of a high-risk location that even his own training as a pizza-deliverer had instructed him to avoid.

But he had been to those kinds of locations before, without a problem. Callahan is 19; he has delivered pizza for slightly more than a year, and he describes himself as a temporary Roanoke resident. He said he is on an extended road trip from his former home in Oregon and plans to head to Southern California next month.

The night Callahan was robbed, the lights at the Patton Avenue home were off. The residence looked run down, topped with a sagging roof and surrounded by long grass.

It was about 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 12 when Callahan stopped his car at the curb just a few feet from the front door. A nearby streetlight threw a little light on two people waiting outside.

He carried two large pizzas and a container of Mountain Dew to the porch.

"I handed them the Mountain Dew. They grabbed the pizza," Callahan said.

They lunged at him. He pinballed off a tree and onto the ground against the base of the porch. A third person joined in. He felt fists coming down hard on him. He felt a stick jabbed directly into his ear and held there by an unseen hand. A voice said they had a gun.

"I was kind of at the point of going into shock," Callahan said.

It ended when the threesome ran with the food, drink and $27, apparently unnerved by Callahan's yelling. Callahan tried to chase them and yelled for somebody's attention. He caught his breath and noticed the attack had apparently gone unnoticed by the neighborhood.

"No one even turned on their porch light," he said. Nor did anyone come outside.

He drove the few blocks back to the Orange Avenue Pizza Hut where he works. As soon as he got inside, he said, he collapsed on the floor of a back room. Co-workers guessed he had been in a traffic accident until he explained the ordeal.

An ambulance took him to a hospital. He said he received five stitches between his mouth and nose. He said he had what looked like pencil lead removed from his ear. He said he suffered a sprain in his arm. He expects Pizza Hut's worker's compensation to cover the expenses.

The best he can figure, his attackers set him up by placing a bogus pizza order to draw him to the dark location. No one has been arrested.

Callahan, who said he makes $9 to $12 per hour with tips, returned to being a delivery driver.

"It's a lot better than standing behind a counter of McDonald's, saying, 'Would you like fries with that?'"

LENGTH: Medium:   57 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  Don Petersen. Pizza Hut delivery driver Mark Callahan 
          was beaten and robbed in front of a Patton Avenue Northwest home 
          (left). It took five stitches to close a gash on his lip. color.