ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 8, 1997 TAG: 9702100112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
POLICE SAY FOUR MEN kidnapped five employees of a check-cashing service and held them at the home of one employee with the intent of robbing the service on Friday morning.
Police kept more than 100 patrons inside a busy check-cashing service for hours Friday after getting a false report that men dressed as security guards were staging a robbery.
All customers were released within hours. One minor injury was reported.
Initial reports were that armed robbers were holding the patrons hostage, but by late afternoon, police said no hostages had been taken and no robbery had occurred.
Police say four men kidnapped five employees Thursday night and held them at the home of one employee with the intent of robbing the check-cashing service Friday morning.
But the plot was foiled when one of the workers escaped Friday morning and flagged down police. Officers went to the house and arrested one suspect and found two of the workers, a guard and a cashier.
Another suspect was arrested during a routine traffic stop, but police, not knowing how many bandits were in on the plot or if any of them had made it into the check-cashing service, blocked off the building and kept everyone inside.
At least two suspects were still being sought. It was not immediately known what happened to the other kidnapped workers.
At 10:30 a.m., police roped off the streets around the Financial Exchange, located in a business district in northeastern Philadelphia, as SWAT members aimed rifles at the first-floor store and dozens of bystanders watched.
Slowly, police allowed patrons, mostly women and children, to leave the building, frisking some to make sure suspects did not escape, posing as customers. It wasn't immediately known when the police learned there were no robbers inside.
During the tense standoff, people could be seen, their faces pressed against the store's windows, peering out at the police surrounding the building.
One officer was seen telling hostages' relative waiting outside, ``Nobody's hurt. Everybody's fine.''
By 4 p.m., the building had been emptied. No more suspects were found inside.
Check-cashing facilities in Philadelphia are often busy on the first Friday of each month, when government checks are distributed.
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