Red Roof Inn robbed

Kelly Foreman
Register News Writer

May 21, 2008 08:53 am

— Richmond Police are searching once again for a set of armed robbers who stole an undetermined amount of money Sunday from a Richmond motel.
A white male entered the hotel at 8:51 p.m. and approached a female clerk at the Red Roof Inn with a cloth covering his nose and mouth, an RPD press release stated.
“The perpetrator acted as if he was armed with a weapon and the clerk reported seeing a silver object that could have been a weapon,” the release states.
After taking the money from the clerk, the robber fled into the parking lot where he got into an older model Chevrolet Cavalier, described as either maroon or burgundy, RPD Sgt. Willard Reardon said, as identified by a customer who was coming into the building following the incident.
The robber is estimated to be between 200 and 230 pounds standing more than 6 feet tall. He is 20 to 30 years old, had a mustache and was wearing a white T-shirt. The driver of the Cavalier also was described as a white male, 20 to 30 years old with greasy brown hair.
There is not enough evidence to link Sunday’s robbery to another hotel robbery just four days earlier, but Reardon said there are similarities.
“There is not anything that we can tie together right now,” he said.
Both the Red Roof Inn, located on Bahama Court, and the Motel 6 robbed last week, located on Northgate Drive, are less than half a mile from the police station.
“You would think a police department within 1,000 yards of either building would be a deterrent, but apparently that’s not the case,” Reardon said. “I think the common denominator is there is an Interstate right next to us. We are at an exit with easy access on and off.”
RPD Detective B.J. O’Donnell is continuing the investigation. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 623-8911 or 623-1162.
Kelly Foreman can be reached at kforeman@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.