Stony Creek bank robbers suspected in Thursday’s Wakefield holdup

Published 10:27 am Wednesday, April 25, 2012

STONY CREEK—A Monday bank robbery in Stony Creek is believed to be related to a Thursday holdup in Wakefield and two other bank robberies since March 27.

“We’re 100 percent sure they’ve done the four bank robberies,” said Det. Derrick McKenzie with the Sussex County Sheriff’s Office.

After Monday’s 9:23 a.m. holdup by two black men in their 20s, a witness chased the men, McKenzie said.

“When she saw them running with guns from the bank, she drove to the top of the railroad tracks in attempt to get a better look,” McKenzie said. “As they were getting in (a vehicle), one fired a shot in her direction.”

She was not hurt.

Two men carrying handguns held up Bank of Southside Virginia in Stony Creek, which is west of Wakefield and north of Jarratt in Sussex County. One robber was wearing a tan hooded jacket, sunglasses and gloves. The other was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses.

“Each went to different tellers and demanded cash,” McKenzie said. “The tellers had seen them coming and the (silent) alarm was set off.”

The men got into an olive-green, king cab pickup with a camper shell driven by a third person, he said. A partial license plate number for the Virginia tag was Z-B-H.

McKenzie believes the suspects are local.

“They appear to know our area,” he said.

The robbery at the BB&T bank in Wakefield involved two black men.

Both robbers were believed to be in their 20s and had 5-foot-9, slender builds.

Banks in Jarratt were held up on March 27 and Chesterfield on April 3.

The FBI in Richmond is involved and a $5,000 reward is offered.