Employees: It can happen to you. Does your employer care?

Akron: Restaurant driver robbed at gunpoint - just drive away, right?
A restaurant delivery driver was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday night in the 500 block of Elbon Avenue in East Akron, police said. The driver, who is employed by Juwuan Kitchen, told officers he had made a delivery about 8:30 p.m. and was walking back to his car when a man with a gun approached. The gunman demanded money. After getting the cash, the robber fled in a dark four-door car.

Cincinnati: Man arrested in convenience store robbery - perhaps they needed a "no tire irons" sign?
A Sycamore Township man was arrested and charged in the robbery of a convenience store late Tuesday. Barry Jones, 40, was charged with the aggravated robbery of Mr. A's Mini Mart at 7752 School Road, Hamilton County Sheriff's deputies said. The suspect entered the store about 8:21 p.m. and hit the counter with a tire iron. While near the cash register, the suspect demanded money. The robber ran from the store with an undetermined amount of cash. A witness saw the suspect go into a nearby trailer park, where deputies found him, Sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett said. The suspect was identified by two witnesses and arrested.

Columbus: Hostage-taking might be tied to wave of business robberies - don't they tell us criminals aren't smart enough to research their targets?
At the door to her apartment, the man who had been following her approached from behind and forced her inside, pointing a gun at her. He bound her, then waited. When her roommate arrived home, he bound her also. His plan was to keep them hostage in their apartment through the night. In the morning, he was going to accompany the woman he followed home to her job at a Hamilton Road check-cashing business and rob the place, Columbus police detective Gary Bowman said. But something scared him off that night. He left the woman’s East Side apartment and never robbed the business, Bowman said. Police were looking into whether the crime was part of a wave of kidnappings of employees of financial institutions in Columbus. Earlier this month, four people were indicted in a string of central Ohio robberies at check-cashing businesses and other institutions in which more than $839,000 was taken. In one case, robbers on July 27 snared $643,000 from Western Credit Union at 750 Georgesville Rd. An employee was held at gunpoint and eventually taken to the business and ordered to open the safe. Also robbed were: Sky Bank, on April 9, 2002; Check Land, on June 27, 2002; Cashland, on Dec. 9, 2002; Whitehall Credit Union, on May 23, 2003; and Western Credit Union, on July 27.

Toledo: Employee is assaulted in East Toledo robbery - of state-mandated victim zone!
Three suspects made off with an undetermined amount of money from the Idle Time Club, at 2044 Genesee St., in Toledo early yesterday. An employee at the club told police three suspects entered about 2:20 a.m. and one ordered food. When the employee went to the kitchen to prepare the food, one of the suspects hit him in the head with a handgun and ordered him to give them his watch and bracelet.