Suspect arrested in store robbery

RICHARD BLANCHARD (Bedford County Jail photo) [Click to enlarge]

Richard Lowell 'Rick' Blanchard II, 45, of North Main Street, was arrested Tuesday by Shelbyville police, Detective Lt. Pat Mathis said Wednesday.

"We were familiar with him and felt like he fit the description," Mathis said. "Brian (Detective Brian Crews) got to working on it and things developed from there."

Blanchard was arrested at his home, Mathis said, and is being held at Bedford County Jail on $150,000 bond, Mathis said. A probation revocation is pending because Blanchard had been released from the jail on March 2 for multiple misdemeanor offenses, police said.

Less than $100 was taken from the cash drawer at the Kangaroo store at the Madison Street-Deery Street intersection, Officer Sam Jacobs said in his report.

"Open the drawer, Pops, I don't want to have to cut you but I will," the robber allegedly said as he pointed a knife at clerk Frank Dickerson and demanded that he open the cash drawer.

Dickerson attempted to slam the drawer on the robber's hand and threw a can of beer at him as he left the store, striking him in the head, Jacobs said.

Blanchard told the Times-Gazette in 2005 he had been paid $15,000 a month while working as a civilian contractor in Iraq earlier this decade. He had been a private security officer protecting American security engineers who were disposing of Saddam Hussein's arsenal in Fallujah.

While in Iraq, he was part of a convoy held by U.S. Marines for 72 hours for allegedly firing weapons indiscriminately and speeding. He was cleared of all alleged wrongdoing after a Navy investigation.

Since his return from Iraq, he has been arrested several times by Shelbyville police on charges ranging from assault to resisting arrest and leaving the scene of an accident, according to police records.