Suspect charged in Durham bomb threats

Police have arrested a man wanted in connection with robberies and bomb threats at two Durham businesses.

Jeffery Todd Brasher, 47, of Liberty Street in Durham, faces two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of communicating threats and one count of larceny of a motor vehicle.

They happened on Nov. 14 at Fast Food Mart, at 2947 Chapel Hill Road, and Nov. 16 at Friendly Jewelry and Pawn, at 2731 Chapel Hill Blvd.

Kammie Michael, a spokeswoman for the Durham Police Department, said Brasher was arrested Sunday in Greensboro after a bomb threat and robbery at a Borders bookstore there. He’s also accused of a similar crime Friday at a Bed Bath & Beyond in Greensboro.

In the Durham cases, witnesses told authorities in 911 calls that a man walked into the businesses, asked for money and threatened to blow up the stores if store employees did not cooperate.

In the pawn shop case, the robber told employees that he had cancer and needed money to make his house payment.

In that case, he also took the store manager’s Saturn Vue. Investigators recovered the vehicle Sunday in Durham, Michael said.