Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
|
|
 |
|
|
| Police: 6-7 guns found; others likely sold on black market in D.C. |
ATF Resident Agent-in-Charge Bart McEntire (left) and Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry announce Thursday that two men were arrested in the Southern Gun store robbery. |
| More Photos |
Friday, December 7, 2007
By AMANDA BUCK - Bulletin Staff Writer
Two Maryland men arrested in the robbery of a Collinsville gun store do not have any known connections to this area, Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry said Thursday.
“It leaves the question of how they do know the area because so far, there haven’t been any ties discovered,” Perry said. “And you have to wonder if they’re just traveling the major corridors and were familiar with the area somehow.”
Ronald Ganeous, 22, of Bladensburg, Md., and Timothy Oliver Jackson Jr., 23, of Upper Marlboro, Md., were arrested Tuesday night in Prince Georges County, Md., officials announced Thursday during a news conference at the Henry County Administration Building.
The men were charged with violating the Hobbs Act, which is the federal equivalent of armed robbery; using a firearm in the commission of a felony; and stealing firearms from a licensed firearms dealer, said Perry and Bart McEntire, a resident agent-in-charge with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Although investigators are not sure why Southern Gun, in the 4200 block of Virginia Avenue, was targeted, they do believe the robbery “was a planned and thought out incident,” Perry said.
After reviewing security tapes taken from the store, police found that one of the men who robbed the store was in the business earlier in the day on Nov. 13, Perry said.
Police also are continuing to investigate an attempted armed robbery on Carver Road earlier that day to determine if it is related to the gun theft, Perry said. That incident might have been staged as a diversion, he said.
Six or seven of 74 guns stolen from Southern Gun have been recovered, according to McEntire and Perry.
The others likely were sold on the black market in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore areas, McEntire said.
The break in the case came when police in Maryland found a Cobra Enterprises .22-caliber derringer/pistol after an incident at a bar in Prince Georges County, according to an affidavit filed with a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court. Officers identified the gun as one stolen in Collinsville and contacted a Roanoke ATF agent on Nov. 22, the affidavit states.
Last week, officers with the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, the ATF and the Martinsville Police Department traveled to Maryland to investigate, Perry said.
Investigators “worked 17-hour days” interviewing people who had been in contact with the gun and locating the other guns they found, including one with an obliterated serial number, McEntire said.
That gun, a Smith and Wesson 9mm semiautomatic pistol, was given to police by someone who helped lead them to the suspects, the affidavit states.
Another stolen gun, a Colt .38-caliber, six-shot revolver, was found buried in a wooded area, according to McEntire and the affidavit. A fourth stolen gun was found by the Washington, D.C., metro police, McEntire said. He did not say what type of gun it was.
Interviews with suspects led police to search an apartment in Oxon Hill, Md., where they found three more firearms that were taken from Southern Gun: a .45-caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol, a Taurus .44-caliber revolver and a Pocket Positive .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol, according to the affidavit.
Ganeous and Jackson, who “frequent that apartment,” were arrested without incident Tuesday night, McEntire said.
“They never knew what hit them,” he said.
Perry and McEntire said they have no evidence to suggest that any of the stolen guns were sold in this area.
“We don’t believe any are down here,” McEntire said. “No one can ever say 100 percent ... but I’m pretty confident in saying they were sold in the D.C. area.”
Selling the guns seems to have been the motive in the theft, McEntire said.
One of the suspects is being held without bond, and the other has a bond hearing today in federal court in Maryland, McEntire said. After that, they probably will be brought to Roanoke, Perry said.
In the meantime, the investigation continues.
The possibility that a third suspect was involved in the case has not been ruled out, Perry said.
Both Perry and McEntire said the cooperation of various police agencies led to the arrests.
“It’s a new administration down here that I enjoy working with,” McEntire said of the sheriff’s office under Perry.
“Agencies working together took a difficult case and made it progress through to an arrest,” Perry stated in a news release. “I am thankful for everyone who helped and cooperated. I also appreciate the citizen involvement which resulted in many leads being called in.”
In addition to the Roanoke ATF, Martinsville police and the sheriff’s office, the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office, the Henry County/Martinsville 911 Center, Prince Georges County (Md.) Police Department and ATF agents from Hyattsville, Md., assisted on the case, the release states.
|
| |
|
|
.jpg)
