DATE: Saturday, October 18, 1997            TAG: 9710180293

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   51 lines

COURTS & CRIME

PORTSMOUTH

Man, 26, is charged

with murder in death

of female neighbor

Police have charged a 26-year-old man with murder in connection with the slaying of a woman found Wednesday in a yard across the street from her home.

Moses Antonio Trotter of the 1400 block of Elm Avenue was arrested Thursday.

Dorothy Smith, 48, of the same block, died from a blow to the head, police said.

Trotter and Smith apparently knew each other and had argued, according to police spokeswoman Lindsay Disbrow.

He is being held in the city jail without bond.

Greenbrier bank robbed

for second time in week

The Bank of Tidewater branch in the 1300 block of Greenbrier Parkway was robbed Friday for the second time this week, according to police.

It marked the third bank robbery in the city this week, police said.

Friday's robbery at 11:10 a.m. also involved a white male who gave the teller a note and did not display a weapon, Police Spokesman Dave Hughes said.

But police believe the perpetrators in the two robberies were different. In Tuesday's robbery, the man was described as heavy and the note bore only one word, ``Robbery.'' In Friday's incident, the man was described as thin and the note was more detailed, Hughes said.

No one was hurt in either robbery, police said.

Friday's robber was described as a 25-year-old white male, 5-foot-10 to 6-feet, with a thin build, wearing a light-blue shirt, khaki-colored pants and a dark ball cap.

The Bank of Tidewater branch closed Friday soon after the robbery, Hughes said.

Thursday morning, two men held up the NationsBank on George Washington Highway in Deep Creek, police said.

Seven bank robberies have occurred in Hampton Roads this week, Hughes said. MEMO: Staff writers Janie Bryant and Lewis Krauskopf contributed to this

report. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Trotter KEYWORDS: BANK ROBBERY MURDER

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu