Friday's Internet Edition, November 21, 2008.

Huffman’s Country Store at the intersection of Ambler Ridge and U.S. 119 was robbed early Thursday, when two people wearing surgical masks and ball caps entered the store just after midnight.

There were no customers in the store at the time and only a single clerk on duty.

One of the men told clerk Jeremy Holbert to empty the cash register, while the other took several cartons of cigarettes from behind the counter.

Both men were armed with shotguns. Roane Sheriff Todd Cole said police were not certain if the guns were loaded.

“We don’t know,” he said. “But you never know how people will react in that situation or what their state of mind might be.

“The clerk handled it the best way he could have,” Cole said. “He gave them what they wanted, but he was able to get a good description of them and the car they were driving.”

The two men were in the store only a very short time and left in a black 1988 Chevrolet Caprice reported stolen earlier that night in Kanawha County. Police said they took $529 in cash and just over $500 in cigarettes from the store.

Holbert placed a 911 call to the Roane Telecommunications Center at 12:04 a.m., Cole said.

Sgt. Doug Eldridge of the Sheriff’s Dept. and Trooper P.S. Fisher of the State Police detachment n Spencer responded to the call.

After getting a description of the car, they sent the information to police in surrounding counties.

Around 1 a.m., Cole said Cpl. D.H. Duff of the Kanawha Sheriff’s Dept. saw a car matching the description near the Haines Branch exit of I-77 at Sissonville. A second vehicle, a Jeep Liberty, followed that vehicle. Both went up the road but only the Jeep came back down the road, this time with some additional passengers.

The deputy made a traffic stop and got the identity of the people inside the vehicle and took photographs, but no arrests were made at that time.

Later that night, police found the Caprice abandoned just inside Jackson County, not far from the Kanawha County line. Cole said officers found Hamilton’s ID inside the vehicle.

The investigation continued Thursday and Friday as police interviewed family members and some of those in the car stopped Thursday morning.

Eldridge used the information to obtain warrants for two suspects Friday afternoon charging them with armed robbery and grand larceny.

Early Saturday, State Police arrested Lucas Seth Hamilton, 18, of Long Ridge Road, Walton at the Knights Inn in Kanawha City. A shotgun that matched the description of one used in the robbery was under a mattress in the motel room where Hamilton was staying, according to State Police spokesman Sgt. Kenneth McCord.

Hamilton was arraigned by Roane Magistrate Denver Gandee Jr. and lodged in the regional jail in lieu of $150,000 bond. A preliminary hearing has been set for Friday afternoon in magistrate court.

The other suspect, identified by McCord as Joshua James Harrison, 17, of Sissonville, was arrested Sunday at a residence at Teays Valley in Putnam County. McCord said a second shotgun believed to have been used in the robbery was recovered from the home of one of Harrison’s relatives.

McCord said none of the stolen money and only a few packs of the stolen cigarettes had been located.

Harrison also appeared before Gandee and was sent to the Lorrie Yeager Juvenile Detention Center in Parkersburg. McCord said it was unclear whether Harrison would be charged for the crimes as an adult.

The charge of armed robbery carries a penalty of 10-to-20 years in prison, while grand larceny has a possible penalty of 1-to-10 years.