Crimora man charged for robbery and attempted robbery in Staunton and Augusta County

By Cleve Wiese

Published: June 25, 2008

The Crimora man arrested Saturday for robbing a Harrisonburg tractor supply company was charged yesterday for a robbery in Staunton and an attempted robbery near Waynesboro.

Brian Eugene Brubaker, 41, who was already in custody at the the Rockingham County Jail, was arrested at around 3:30 p.m. yesterday for the June 13 robbery of the Augusta County Co-op Farm Bureau in Staunton, Officer Lisa Klein of the Staunton Police Department said.

Augusta County Sheriff’s Department authorities also arrested Brubaker yesterday for the June 6 attempted robbery of Ladd Convenience Store on Route 340 near Waynesboro. Eyewitnesses from that incident fingered Brubaker in a photo lineup, Lt. Glenn Hanger of the Augusta County Sheriff’s Department said.

The knife-wielding suspect in the Staunton incident threatened an employee before taking off with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said. The Waynesboro robbery ended abruptly when the suspect, who was brandishing an unidentified object wrapped in a towel, fled the business empty handed.

Investigators with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office have also arrested Brubaker in connection with the June 17 knifepoint stick-ups of Bootville, Crawford Saddlery and the Food Lion at Forest Lakes.

“They were all perpetrated by the same individual, we feel certain,” said Sheriff Randy Fisher of the Augusta County Sheriff’s Department.

Brubaker is being held in Rockingham County Jail pending a bond hearing.