ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke teen-ager admitted Tuesday that he robbed four convenience stores last August during a two-day crime spree.
Robert M. Addison, who was captured on a video surveillance camera during one of the hold-ups wearing a T-shirt that said "My Game is Cash Money," pleaded guilty to four counts of robbery and one firearms charge during a hearing in Roanoke Circuit Court.
Addison, who was 17 at the time, told police that he robbed the stores to get money to buy new clothes for the beginning of the school year, said Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony.
As part of a plea agreement reached Tuesday, Anthony dropped two charges of using a firearm in the commission of a felony in exchange for Addison's five guilty pleas. The 18-year-old, who will be sentenced later, faces multiple life sentences under new laws designed to crack down on violent juvenile offenders.
According to testimony Tuesday, Addison and 16-year-old Keith Goodrich used a stick to rob the Express Stop Food Mart on Orange Avenue early on the morning of Aug. 16.
Later that day, Addison went to Kmart and purchased an air pistol and an orange hat that he fashioned into a mask, Detective M.S. Rubeiz testified.
Within a six-hour span on the morning of Aug. 17, Addison used the gun and mask to rob the Turbo Food Mart on Plantation Road near his home, then got a ride from a friend in order to rob the Uni-Mart on Jefferson Street and the 7-Eleven on Grandin Road, Rubeiz testified.
No one was injured in the robberies, which yielded small amounts of cash.
The next day, Addison went to Happy's Flea Market and bought a real gun.
He was arrested in his back yard while testing the weapon and charged with shooting a firearm in the city. While at the Coyner Springs Juvenile Detention Home on that charge, he confessed the robberies to Rubeiz.
Goodrich, who was charged with five counts of robbery, was sent to a a psychiatric hospital for evaluation in November after a psychologist said he was not competent to stand trial. While incarcerated on the robbery charges, Goodrich told psychologists that he though he heard the devil calling his name, according to earlier testimony.
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