Holbrook man pleads guilty to robbing store
WAYNESBURG – A Holbrook man pleaded guilty Wednesday to the July 27 armed robbery at Rush’s Grocery Store in Rogersville.
Curtis Matthew Vanbuskirk, 26, pleaded guilty to robbery, terroristic threats and theft. Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman ordered a pre-sentence report be completed and a date later scheduled for sentencing.
Vanbuskirk remains in Greene County jail on $30,000 bond.
State police said Vanbuskirk entered the store about 9:50 p.m. and handed the store owner, Judy Rush, a note demanding money and threatening to shoot her if she did not comply with his demand.
Rush struggled with Vanbuskirk, who then threatened to shoot both her and a child who was standing behind her if she did not give him the cash.
Vanbuskirk grabbed $100 from the cash register and fled the store.
A photograph from the store surveillance video was published in the Observer-Reporter July 30. Police said the next day they received two anonymous tips indicating the robber might be Vanbuskirk.
Vanbuskirk’s girlfriend, Michelle L. Cain, 26, of Cameron, W.Va., who drove Vanbuskirk to store that day, also was charged by state police with conspiracy to commit the same crimes. Her case has not yet been adjudicated.