Everything was going smoothly for Maxine Rutlidge, Greenberry’s Coffee director of operations, while at the Barracks Road shop on Friday, June 20 until she faced a rather unexpected surprise. Her store was being robbed.
“I was in the office working and somebody came up from behind me and told me ‘Don’t look at me, don’t pull anything, don’t try anything, just give me all your cash,’” says Rutlidge. “So I thought, ‘Oh, it’s someone joking.’ So I turned and looked and he had a knife on the side of my arm and a brown paper bag.” Rutlidge stayed in the back out of harm’s way as the robber, disguised in sunglasses and a baseball cap, took the money and made his escape.
“It was pretty much myself and another girl in the office,” Rutlidge says. “He got a little bit from back here and we could see from the security cameras he was in the front of the store, by the cash register. So he took what little was in there and walked out of the store like nothing happened,” Rutlidge says.
As the robber left, Rutlidge feared that he would hurt customers or employees. “My concern was there were people that were coming in the front door, customers, and my concern was if he panicked now he’s going to come back here to us again, because he told us, ‘Don’t call anyone, don’t do anything until I leave.”
The robbery came as a major shock. “The store’s been here for 16 years, and it’s never happened,” says Rutlidge. “Of course it’s in the back of your mind that it could, but you never think it’s going to happen.”
According to NBC 29, a suspect was arrested earlier this week. Brian Brubaker of Crimora was arraigned in Greene County General District Court in connection with robberies at the Ruckersville Food Lion and Crawford Saddlery and Bootvil’. NBC29 says Brubaker is a suspect in the Greenberry’s robbery, though no charges have been filed.
The robbery led to changes for the store, including the placement of a window between the back room and the front of the store. Rutlidge also changed the layout of her office, turning her computer so that she could keep an eye on the office door. Even with the changes, the event has left its mark on Rutlidge.
“It leaves an imprint on your mind, and you become a little edgy,” she says. “I keep my back to the wall.”
