TAMPA -- Gerard Wilson covered his face with his shirt and showed the clerk a handgun Monday as he robbed the business where he used to cash his paychecks, police said.

Wilson put his checkbook on the counter of the Check-N-Go at 4051 S Dale Mabry Highway at 1:15 p.m., police said, then left it behind in his haste to flee the scene.

"He needed a free hand to take the money," Tampa police Detective Nick Sclavakis said.

The checkbook gave Wilson's name and former address, Sclavakis said. Clerks from the Check-N-Go identified Wilson as the robber when shown a photo pack containing his picture. Temple Terrace police arrested Wilson at his brother's home at 4436 Bass St., Sclavakis said, which Wilson listed as his home address on jail records.

He said Wilson, 37, was laid off as a pressman at the Tampa Tribune about two weeks ago.

He is being held without bail on a charge of armed robbery.

People uneasy about mail can drop items in barrels

TAMPA -- In the wake of anthrax-laced mailings across the country, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has created a new policy to help people who are uneasy about their mail.

At the Sheriff's Operations Center and at the agency's four district offices, people can deposit questionable mail or packages into an 85-gallon barrel. The barrels sit outside each office.

If people are uncomfortable opening a piece of mail or package but do not think the item is truly suspicious, they should place the item in a plastic bag, seal the bag and place it into the barrel.

Here are the barrel locations:

Sheriff's Operations Center, 2008 Eighth Ave., Tampa,

District 1, 14102 N 20th St., Tampa,

District 2, 2310 Falkenburg Road, Brandon,

District 3, 7202 N Gunn Highway, Tampa, and

District 4, 508 33d St. SE, Ruskin.

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