ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 25, 1996 TAG: 9612260059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-8 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
West Virginia and Washington County authorities arrested a man Monday night suspected of being the well-dressed bandit who robbed Food Lion stores in Pulaski County and Abingdon recently.
Washington County deputies traveled to Sprague, W.Va., to arrest Henry Douglas Burton, 48, at his home, according to Investigator J.B. Saunders of the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office.
Wytheville police are also investigating a similar Dec. 9 armed robbery of the Acme Supermarket on Main Street. No charges have been filed in that case.
Burton is being held in West Virginia's Raleigh County Jail on armed robbery charges in connection with a Saturday night holdup of a Food Lion in Abingdon, located in Washington County.
Saunders said victims in that robbery were able to get the robber's license plate number and a description of his car.
Billy Bledsoe, assistant store manager for Abingdon's Food Lion, said the man who robbed his store wore a blazer, white turtleneck, dress pants and dress shoes.
Bledsoe was in the deli department when the robber walked up and asked him if he would cash a check. When he asked what kind of check, the robber pulled out a nickel-plated revolver and said, "This kind," Bledsoe said.
With a gun in his back, Bledsoe went to the front of the store and filled a shoe store bag with money from the safe. The robber led him toward the back of the store, then turned and ran out the front doors, Bledsoe said. A customer in the store took down the robber's license plate and a description of his car.
Pulaski County, too, has obtained warrants against Burton for armed robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Saunders said his office will serve the warrants when Burton is extradited from West Virginia.
Employees of another Food Lion, in the Fairview shopping center in Pulaski County's Fairlawn section, picked Burton out of a photo lineup as the person who robbed their store, Saunders said.
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