Rough Christmas for Greensboro area businesses

*****from the Greensboro News and Record on-line site at www.news-record.com***** (In some ways these events were not directly sports-related, but they did involve quite a bit of running and some heavy lifting.)

GREENSBORO – Four Christmas Eve robberies and one attempted robbery put a damper on the holiday for five area businesses.

Police said the first robbery was around 1 a.m. Wednesday at Marcella’s Bingo at 811 W. Lee St.

An employee said she was approached by an armed man who approached her as she was leaving the business.

The suspect took cash from the woman and fled on foot. He was last seen wearing a camouflage jacket and a ski mask.

The second robbery happened at 7:25 a.m., when police say a man entered the Food Mart at 1061 Alamance Church Road with a long knife and demanded money from a clerk.

The clerk gave him cash from the register. The man put the money in a black backpack and fled on foot toward Willow Road.

He was described as a black man in his early 20s and around 5 feet 10 inches tall. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, black pants and a black ski mask.

At 7:55 a.m. a man approached two female employees standing outside the Harris Teeter at 2268 Golden Gate Drive.

He held a butcher knife to one of the employee’s stomach and forced them back inside the store and demanded money from the registers.

The registers were still empty and the man then demanded they open the safe, but neither employee had access to it.

He then tried to take money from the employees but fled after not getting anything.

The suspect was a black man, between 5 feet 6 inches to 6 feet tall. He wore a brown mask, all black clothing, black gloves and had a tan backpack.

He was last seen fleeing from the back of the business on a bicycle.

Two men were arrested Thursday in connection with a late night robbery of a fast food restaurant on Christmas Eve.

At 11:08 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to an armed robbery at the Cook Out at 2601 Randleman Road, according to police records.

Two men armed with handguns robbed the business of more than $1,700, according to court records.

On Thursday, police charged Ronald Armstrong Carroll Jr., 28, of 305 W. Lee St. and Jermaine Brice Melton, 22, of 507 Ireland St. in connection with the robbery.

Both were charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, felony conspiracy and seven counts of second-degree kidnapping.

Carroll also faces charges of possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a stolen handgun.

Both men are being held at the Guilford County jail in Greensboro on $50,000 bonds.

(From the Greensboro Telegram)
A less serious robbery took place at the ABC liquor store on Randleman Road in Greensboro, say police. ABC store employees said that a man picked up a whole case of Hennessey liquor and walked out the door with it. Police say that the man was able to get away even though two store workers tried to stop him.

Police say that the suspect got away in a rental truck and that one of the store employees “injured his little finger trying to stop the suspect.”

There is no indication that any of the incidents were related.

Anyone with information about any of the crimes is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 373-1000.