Two men charged with tying up and robbing an elderly Botetourt County couple are suspects in at least three other area home invasions, including one in Roanoke County in which a robber opened fire, according to court documents.

One suspect admitted to police he robs "for a living" because his crime record prevents a real job, according a search warrant filed in Roanoke Circuit Court. George Fitzgerald and Kevin Ferguson, both 32, of Roanoke were arrested last week and charged in the December home invasion in Daleville.

Investigators on Tuesday searched Fitzgerald's house on Greenland Avenue Northwest in Roanoke and discovered cellphones, cameras and other electronics that may be related to home invasions in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Vinton, according to a search warrant filed in Roanoke Circuit Court. They also searched Ferguson's house on Ridge Run Drive Northeast and took two pairs of shoes.

Fitzgerald told police after his arrest that he "robs drug dealers for a living because he couldn't get a job anywhere because of his record," according to the court documents.

In the Dec. 27 Botetourt County robbery, Fitzgerald and Ferguson are accused of participating in a crime in which three masked men kicked down the door of a house on Glebe Hill Road and tried to force a 79-year-old woman to open a safe. When that failed, the robbers tied the woman and her 80-year-old husband with a telephone cord and stole the safe containing about $40,000.

On Feb. 17, several robbers burst into a home on Bush Farm Drive in Vinton, tied up the occupants and beat them, sending them to the hospital with injuries, according to Vinton police. The robbers took cellphones, money and electronics, according to a search warrant.

Four days later, four masked men bound and beat two men inside a house in the 3300 block of Rutrough Road in the Mount Pleasant area of Roanoke County. One robber fired at least two shots inside the house, hitting no one. The occupants of the house, a 34-year-old man and an 18-year-old man, were treated at the hospital for injuries.

Fitzgerald and Ferguson are scheduled for a jury trial in Botetourt County Circuit Court on April 22 in connection with the Dec. 27 robbery.