20061031

Smell of pizza leads deputy to suspects

A sheriff's deputy sniffed out two men suspected of robbing a pizza delivery woman when he caught a whiff of pepperoni and sausage pizza at their home.

Bartholomew County Sheriff's Deputy Jimmy Green was searching the area where the delivery woman was robbed for potential witnesses Sunday night when he grew suspicious of one man, Maj. Mark Gorbett said.

"It just didn't seem right to Jimmy, and he wanted to take it a step further and went to the witness' residence. That's when Jimmy smelled the aroma of pizza," Gorbett said. "I'm sure our K-9 unit wouldn't have hit on the pizza."

Green noticed a phone book in the house opened to the pizza section. Officers also found the pizzas and cash taken in the robbery and a knife they believe one of the suspects used, Gorbett said.

Police arrested two men in their early 20s at the home, a couple of blocks from where the delivery woman was robbed. Deputies believe the men called in the pizza order and gave a phony address, then one of the men robbed the delivery woman at knifepoint while the other served as a lookout.

Columbus, a town of about 40,000 residents, is 40 miles southeast of Indianapolis.

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