Coin holdup may be related to others

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1999 | 10:43 a.m.

Metro Police say a coin-truck robbery Tuesday may be connected to similar holdups even though three men are in jail charged with the earlier crimes.

A Jackpot Coin truck was robbed Tuesday at gunpoint as the driver left a convenience store at Meadows Lane and Decatur Boulevard at about 7:15 p.m., police said.

Two robbers put a sweatshirt over the head of the driver and then drove the truck about a quarter-mile to a residential neighborhood, where the driver was forced to open the truck's safe, police said. He was then released unharmed.

It was the sixth such robbery of an armored coin truck on a slot-machine route, police said, and the third since a trio were arrested in connection with the first three.

Teddy Seals, 20, and Lamar Crosby, 22, and Kenneth Louis, 33, were arrested Nov. 12 in connection with a coin-truck robbery that day and have since been connected to two similar robberies the first week of November, police said.

Seals and Crosby have gang affiliations, Detective John Hanover said today, and police are investigating whether the robbers in Tuesday's heist may be in the same gang.

The other two holdups since Nov. 12 happened under identical circumstances, down to the clothing the suspects wore, Hanover said.

The amount of money stolen is not being released, but Hanover said coin trucks can carry $5,000 to $15,000.

Police are looking for a man 20 to 25 years old, 5 foot 11 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds and wearing a black sweatshirt and dark pants. A description was not available on the second man.