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Two men sought in store robbery, kidnapping

Men bind store clerk with duct tape, steal phones, cash, cigarettes and car

By Sarah Newell Williamson | Hickory Daily Record

Published: June 30, 2009

HICKORY - Law enforcement officials are looking for two men who they say robbed a business in Hickory, as well as the clerk.

Two men entered the Cubbard Express No. 8 on N.C. 127 South at 11:55 p.m. Saturday while the only clerk working at the time was in the storage room, cleaning out the coffee pot, said Chief Deputy Coy Reid, with the Catawba County Sheriff's Office.

The black male suspect told her to get on the floor, Reid said. The white male suspect put a knife on the clerk's throat and placed duct tape over her mouth. He also bound her hands and feet with duct tape and moved her further into the storage room.

The suspects told the clerk they didn't want to hurt her, Reid said.

The two men left her there, and the clerk waited until she didn't hear anything, before getting up, Reid said. The clerk looked for a phone, but the suspects had taken the store phone with them. She looked in her purse for her cell phone, but it, too, had been taken, along with her car keys. They did not steal her wallet, Reid said. The clerk pressed the store's alarm for help.

The two suspects stole five cartons of Newport cigarettes from the convenience store and $248 from the cash register. They drove away in the clerk's 1999 burgundy Toyota Camry.

The store has security cameras, and law enforcement is reviewing it for additional information about the robbery, Reid said.

The white male suspect was wearing a white tank top, red pants and had a red bandanna covering his face. The black suspect was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, the soles of his shoes were red and he was wearing some type of mask.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Catawba County Sheriff's Office at 464-5241.