ROBBER DEMANDS $20 FROM EATERY MONEY MAY HAVE BEEN FOR DRUG BUY.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A robber deputies suspect may have been trying to raise money for a drug buy robbed a restaurant of $20.

The robber, described as a man in his 50s, first asked for change for a $20 bill, then stuck his hand into his jacket as if he had a gun and demanded $20.

``Whether he got $20 or $1,000, it's still a robbery,'' said Deputy Mark Round of the Lancaster Sheriff's Station.

The man entered the Tommies Burgers restaurant at 826 W. Ave. I just after 8:30 p.m.

He asked for change, began looking in his wallet, then put his hand in his jacket pocket and gripped ``something straight'' that the cashier believed was a gun, deputies said.

The man said ``give me a twenty,'' took the $20 bill handed to him by the cashier, and left the restaurant heading east on Avenue I.

One of the employees recognized the man as having been in the store weeks earlier when he confused a cashier into giving him too much change, deputies said.

Because the robber asked for a specific amount, the money may have been intended to buy drugs, deputies said.

Deputies looking for the robber spotted a younger man wearing similar clothing to the robber's. They chased after and arrested him when he ran, but witnesses said he was not the robber.

The robber is described as an African-American man in his 50s wearing a black jacket, black pants and a black baseball cap.