Washington County deputies on Dec. 2 responded to a 10 p.m. report of armed robbery at a gas station off Interstate 81’s Exit 10.
Officials said that a man pulled a gun on the clerk at the Shell station and demanded money, leaving with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Armed with a detailed description of the subject provided by the clerk, deputies quickly stopped a vehicle heading north on I-81,finding a handgun in the vehicle.
A 40-year-old Chilhowie man, Eric Wayne Mercer, was charged with armed robbery, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, petit larceny and brandishing of a firearm and taken to the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail facility in Abingdon.
Police recovered $245 from Mercer, who the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said has a criminal history of shoplifting, obtaining money by false pretense and probation violation.
