DATE: Sunday, November 16, 1997             TAG: 9711160070

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  105 lines

SUSPECTS, HELD AFTER CAR CRASH, ARE LINKED TO SEVERAL HOLDUPS

It started last month with a two-car collision in Norfolk: A 1997 white Chevrolet Cavalier slammed into another car carrying elderly women near the corner of Colonial Avenue and 25th Street.

To police detectives, it seemed like a routine wreck with no fatalities. But the Cavalier matched the description of a car that had been used in a convenience store robbery in Norfolk that same night. As detectives questioned the three people inside, they realized they had come across suspects sought for a number of armed robberies of commercial properties throughout Hampton Roads since late 1996.

Detectives said they would not have been able to make the connection between the unsolved robberies in several cities without the teamwork of robbery squads from every police department in Hampton Roads comparing information.

Sgt. Danny Williams, of the Norfolk police robbery squad, said the robbery ring involves at least five people - including the three captured after the crash.

The suspects face charges for five robberies in October, in Norfolk, Suffolk and Newport News, but investigators are looking at whether they were involved in about 25 robberies throughout the area since last year.

The three suspects jailed in Norfolk, all residents of the Ebony Heights section of Portsmouth, were identified by police as Ronald Maurice Davis, 18; Deron Brown, 18; and Xaviera Andrews, 20.

The fourth suspect, Eugene Daniel McCoade, 20, is being held in the Suffolk jail for a robbery in that city. A fifth suspect remains at large, detectives said.

Detectives said a gang attacked businesses such as convenience stores and gas stations. In each crime, robbers used a gun to threaten workers. But no one has been hurt, detectives said.

Detectives began piecing together a series of unsolved robberies after the car wreck in Norfolk on Oct. 25.

Police interrogated Andrews, Brown and Davis, who were inside the Cavalier. The three were charged with robbing a Sentry Mart in the 1200 block of Granby St. that evening.

Police said that two gunmen approached a cashier, demanded cash and fled in a getaway car.

``Through the interrogation, police learned they had been involved in two to three other robberies,'' said W.L. Garrison, an investigator with the Norfolk robbery squad.

For the Sentry Mart attack, both Brown and Davis were charged with robbery, conspiracy and using a firearm. Andrews, the suspected driver, was charged with robbery, felony evasion, conspiracy and using a firearm.

The suspects have been in jail since Oct. 25. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Thursday in General District court.

The first night of questioning led Norfolk detectives to Newport News, where the three suspects were also charged with three recent robberies - one of them on the night of the wreck.

Police spokesman Pete Edgette said the first robbery happened on Oct. 20 at a Burger King on Jefferson Avenue, where two people carrying handguns took money from a cash register and robbed an employee.

Another robbery occurred at a McDonald's restaurant on Jefferson on Oct. 24, when two men armed with handguns demanded cash and ran away.

On the afternoon of Oct. 25, the Night and Day Market on Wickham Avenue was robbed by two people with weapons. Four hours later, Newport News detectives then learned that people with the same description were suspected of the Sentry Mart robbery in Norfolk, Edgette said.

Brown, Davis and Andrews were charged with all three robberies in Newport News.

``There are still several cases under investigation,'' Edgette said. ``We're looking at similar robberies to see if there is a connection.''

Investigators in several South Hampton Roads police departments had a similar refrain.

``We're still investigating several robberies with this group,'' said Sgt. Bob Downing, a supervisor in the Chesapeake police department's criminal investigative section. No charges, however, have been filed.

At least one of the suspects has been arrested for another other serious felony in the past, Downing added.

Brown was charged in a robbery-homicide that occurred near the Chesapeake/Norfolk line on Nov. 15, 1996, where the owner of an Amoco gas station was killed. That case is still pending, Downing said.

In Suffolk, Eugene McCoade and Davis were charged with the Oct. 16 robbery of the Red Barn in the 100 block of Pinner St. Both men were charged with robbery, abduction and using a firearm. McCoade is still in the Suffolk jail.

Sgt. Tony Zacaro, of Virginia Beach's robbery division, said his department was familiar with the rash of robberies, but no charges had been filed against the suspects in custody.

Detectives agreed that area-wide cooperation among the robbery investigators helps capture suspects in Hampton Roads, especially those who rove from city to city to find targets.

``We've learned that these crime sprees are not isolated to one jurisdiction,'' Edgette said.

Norfolk's Garrison, who has been with the robbery squad for 18 years, said robbery rings used to operate mainly between Norfolk and Portsmouth. ``Now they're making that loop to the Peninsula,'' he said.

At a regional meeting at the Police Operations Center at the end of October, investigators began to share information about suspects who seemed similar in physical description and methods of attack.

That sharing helped pinpoint the robbery suspects.

``That's when everything started to come together,'' he said. ``It turned into multiple cases for all the agencies.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

THE SUSPECTS

Ronald Davis, top; Deron Brown; and Xaviera Andrews are jailed in

Norfolk. They also face charges in Newport News. KEYWORDS: ROBBERIES ARREST

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