Roanoke man arrested, charged in May bomb threat, robbery at Daleville Kroger
The Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office has announced an arrest and charges involving a Roanoke man accused of robbing and threatening to bomb the Daleville Kroger store in May.
Michael Thor Dricker, 46, was taken into custody on Aug. 5 after a grand jury indicted him on Aug. 2. He faces three felony charges: threatening to bomb, robbery and constructing or using a hoax explosive.
On May 23, Botetourt’s emergency call center got a 911 call from a Kroger employee who reported a robbery had occurred at the grocery store on Kingston Drive, a sheriff’s office press release said Thursday.
A man approached a cashier within the store, placed a bag on the counter. He said the bag contained a bomb and the detonator was in his front pocket. “The male demanded money from the clerk and then fled the store with an undisclosed amount of cash,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies hurried to the store, where they were told that the man was seen leaving the parking lot in a gray-colored sedan. Witnesses said the vehicle might have been a BMW without a front license plate.
The grocery store was evacuated as a precaution until the Virginia State Police Explosives Unit could conduct a search of the bag that the suspect left behind.
A “thorough investigation,” the press release said, identified Dricker as a suspect. He is being held at the Botetourt-Craig Regional Jail without bond.
Dricker was arraigned in Botetourt County Circuit Court Tuesday on the three charges he faces, according to Virginia’s online court case information system. His trial has been set for Oct. 25.
