The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996                 TAG: 9605010389
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                         LENGTH: Short :   35 lines

ARMED ROBBERS RAPE CLERK AND THREATEN THREE IN CHESAPEAKE

A clerk was raped and three other people were held at gunpoint during a robbery Sunday night at the Little Earle's grocery store in the Hickory section of the city, police reported.

Richard Black, a spokesman for the Chesapeake Police Department, said Tuesday that two men entered the store in the 2600 block of South Battlefield Blvd. about 9 p.m.

One of the men pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot two customers, a man and a woman, before ordering them into one of the store's restrooms. The customers were left in the restroom with their hands bound and mouths covered with duct tape. The two men then forced two female clerks into the store office and removed about $5,000 from the safe, Black said.

The men took one clerk to the store's other restroom and left her there. The other clerk was raped in the front part of the store, Black said.

The two men were described as black males between 20 and 25 years old. One of the men is about 5 feet 11 inches tall and 200 pounds. He has brown eyes, a shaved head and a medium complexion.

The other man is 5 feet 9 inches tall and 150 pounds. He has brown eyes, a medium complexion and short black hair.

Anyone with information is asked to call Chesapeake Crime Line at 487-1234 or Detective Linda White at 547-6251.

KEYWORDS: RAPE SEX CRIME ROBBERIES by CNB