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Store owner holds men at gunpoint until police arrive
BY KATHY PLUM
The Dominion Post
When two young men decided to take up a life of crime, they bought the best tools and prepared for everything -- except the owners showing up with a shotgun.
Russell and Erica Rodeheaver followed an "agreed routine" when the alarm was tripped at Casteel's Store and Dairy King, off the Hazelton Exit of Interstate 68, at 12:42 a.m. Wednesday.
"My husband checked the back door, and it was secure. He went to the kitchen door and could see that it was ajar just a little bit," Erica Rodeheaver said.
She kept the headlights of her 2003 Ford Explorer on the building, illuminating it while Russell went around checking the windows. From inside the SUV, she was able to see the doors.
"The back door opened up slightly, and when it did, it was the robbers inside, so I hollered at (Russell), and he came around and told them to come on out, and they did," Erica said. "Of course, he had a shotgun, and he told them to sit down, and we called the law. And they sat there until the law came."
David Elvis Dalton Jr., 23, of Woodland Terrace, Morgantown, and Justin Ray Funk, 21, of Salisbury, N.C., stayed put until police arrived to take them away. Each was charged with breaking and entering, and conspiracy; they were lodged in the Preston County Jail on Wednesday afternoon in lieu of $100,000 bond.
Police said they had been living in Bretz.
Preston Sheriff's deputies recovered a new pry bar on the kitchen floor in front of the cash register beside a blue canvas bag containing $52.50 in coins, and another new pry bar in a storeroom.
Further investigation, police said, "uncovered that (Funk) and David Dalton had went to a Lowe's store in Westover prior to the break-in and purchased two new pry bars and two new mini-Mag-Lite flashlights."
The men told the Rodeheavers they had stopped because they were hungry. According to Deputy J.L. Root's statement, they told him the same thing.
Root said in the Magistrate Court complaint that Dalton told him they "were just cruising around and parked in the parking lot of the Dairy King and they became hungry" and "the next thing (Dalton) knew, they were inside of the restaurant in a collective attempt to obtain food."
It's not the first time the Rodeheavers have foiled thieves at the store. About five years ago, three men ran their vehicle through the front of the store and stole a 12-pack of beer, but the Rodesheavers caught them too.
"Sometimes it gets pretty scary," Erica Rodeheaver said, but in this instance "they didn't give us any problems. They did what they were asked to do and answered any questions we had."
Police reported they have taped confessions from the men.
http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2004/06/17/aya/
BY KATHY PLUM
The Dominion Post
When two young men decided to take up a life of crime, they bought the best tools and prepared for everything -- except the owners showing up with a shotgun.
Russell and Erica Rodeheaver followed an "agreed routine" when the alarm was tripped at Casteel's Store and Dairy King, off the Hazelton Exit of Interstate 68, at 12:42 a.m. Wednesday.
"My husband checked the back door, and it was secure. He went to the kitchen door and could see that it was ajar just a little bit," Erica Rodeheaver said.
She kept the headlights of her 2003 Ford Explorer on the building, illuminating it while Russell went around checking the windows. From inside the SUV, she was able to see the doors.
"The back door opened up slightly, and when it did, it was the robbers inside, so I hollered at (Russell), and he came around and told them to come on out, and they did," Erica said. "Of course, he had a shotgun, and he told them to sit down, and we called the law. And they sat there until the law came."
David Elvis Dalton Jr., 23, of Woodland Terrace, Morgantown, and Justin Ray Funk, 21, of Salisbury, N.C., stayed put until police arrived to take them away. Each was charged with breaking and entering, and conspiracy; they were lodged in the Preston County Jail on Wednesday afternoon in lieu of $100,000 bond.
Police said they had been living in Bretz.
Preston Sheriff's deputies recovered a new pry bar on the kitchen floor in front of the cash register beside a blue canvas bag containing $52.50 in coins, and another new pry bar in a storeroom.
Further investigation, police said, "uncovered that (Funk) and David Dalton had went to a Lowe's store in Westover prior to the break-in and purchased two new pry bars and two new mini-Mag-Lite flashlights."
The men told the Rodeheavers they had stopped because they were hungry. According to Deputy J.L. Root's statement, they told him the same thing.
Root said in the Magistrate Court complaint that Dalton told him they "were just cruising around and parked in the parking lot of the Dairy King and they became hungry" and "the next thing (Dalton) knew, they were inside of the restaurant in a collective attempt to obtain food."
It's not the first time the Rodeheavers have foiled thieves at the store. About five years ago, three men ran their vehicle through the front of the store and stole a 12-pack of beer, but the Rodesheavers caught them too.
"Sometimes it gets pretty scary," Erica Rodeheaver said, but in this instance "they didn't give us any problems. They did what they were asked to do and answered any questions we had."
Police reported they have taped confessions from the men.
http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2004/06/17/aya/
