Police seek two suspects
This afternoon a business in Virginia became the next victim in a growing trend of robberies aimed at payday loan stores. Police and witnesses say that just before 3 p.m. E.T., two males entered the building.
Robbers armed with handgun
Witnesses say one of the men approached the counter and feigned interest in taking out a payday loan. His suspected partner, who was behind him, took out a handgun and ordered employees to the back of the store.
Suspect descriptions
The two men left the Fast Auto Loan & Payday Loan store on the 5200 block of George Washington Highway with an undisclosed amount of cash. There is no surveillance footage available. The suspects were described as two black men. No additional details are available yet.
Anyone with information about this robbery is asked to call 1-888-LOCK-U-UP. Tips that lead to arrest can garner rewards of up to $1,000.
No surveillance
Payday loan store robberies have become more common in recent months. This has encouraged many payday loan stores to install video surveillance cameras to protect their employees.
Another Fast Auto Loan & Payday Loan store in Virginia was robbed about three weeks ago. The robber carried a knife, and he was recorded by a surveillance camera. Police released photos of him within a few hours.
Another taped robbery
A robbery in Moreno Valley, California, at an Advance America payday loan store was captured on video that same week.
Video released
Stills from the video cameras have been dispersed to the public. You can also watch video of the robbery to get a good look at the robbers who went inside the business. Police say there could be another accomplice outside the building.
Bizarre behavior
The same day the thieves in Moreno Valley were caught on tape, a couple of robbers in Texas had a particularly strange accomplice at a payday loan store robbery: a baby.
The robbery occurred Thursday just after the Texas Car Title & Payday Loan in Amarillo closed. A man approached the clerk outside the store at gunpoint and demanded he open the store and give him cash. The employee says the man was accompanied by a woman and a baby.
Is it irony or just unfortunate that a store marketing to legally rob poor people and give to the rich was illegally robed? My be they weren’t robbed, maybe they were just getting their money back from some legal shysters. Either way, good for them. What ever it takes to shut down these crooks.
Yes, it is awful they were illegally robed – they were draped in terry cloth garments against their will. And violent crime is good if it serves one side of a particular argument? Tisk, tisk. These aren’t Robin Hoods you’re advocating for. (There never actually was a Robin Hood, actually. Or a tooth fairy, nor Santa Claus.) They were probably robbing the place to support their drug habits. This wasn’t an action of altruistic protest, it was a violent crime, period.