A pair of foul-smelling men robbed a taxi driver in Roanoke County, and police believe they may be the culprits in an attempted robbery less than 30 minutes earlier near Towers Shopping Center.

Police in Roanoke and Roanoke County agree that Monday night's attempted robbery of a couple outside CVS pharmacy on Colonial Avenue in Roanoke could be connected to the armed robbery and carjacking of the Yellow Cab driver near Clearbrook.

No one was injured in either incident, and no arrests had been made as of Tuesday evening.

Roanoke County police described the taxi robbers in a news release as having "an offensive odor about them, as if unwashed, etc."

The first incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. when two men, one of them armed with a gun, approached a couple in their vehicle outside CVS, Roanoke police said.

"The suspects did say things to the victims to make the victims believe that it was a robbery," police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said, declining to elaborate.

The couple escaped by driving away.

A few minutes later, two men called a cab from Pizza Hut on Brandon Avenue, across the street from the CVS, said Roanoke County police Lt. Chuck Mason.

Driver Rodney Soldorfen picked them up. He used potent words to describe the rancid robbers: They smelled "like alcohol, you mix that with urine and month-old clothes and not taking a bath."

Soldorfen said they told him to drive them south on U.S. 220 past Wal-Mart and to turn left after Outback Steakhouse.

He was driving along Old Rocky Mount Road, somewhere near Draper Road, when one of the passengers told him he had passed the turn, he said.

When Soldorfen stopped the car, the man seated behind him grabbed his shoulder and pressed a gun to his head. His accomplice stole cash and a cellphone from the vehicle.

Soldorfen said one of the men then told him to get out of the car and walk away without looking back. He complied, and they drove away. The car was found abandoned about 7 a.m. Tuesday on Clearbrook Lane.

Soldorfen, who has been a cab driver off and on for the past 17 years, checked his oil Tuesday afternoon as he prepared to start another shift.

"I've got to work, man. I've got kids to feed," Soldorfen said, leaning against Yellow Cab number 75. "It takes more than this to run me off my job."

The perpetrators of both the attempted robbery and the robbery were described as white men. The victims of the attempted robbery said one of the men wore blue jeans, a blue jacket and a baseball cap. The other was clad in dark jeans or pants, and a red and black jacket.

One of the taxi robbers was said to be in his late 20s or early 30s and about 5 feet 9 inches tall with an average build, dark hair and a scruffy goatee. He was wearing blue jeans and a blue and white hooded jacket. His partner was described as about 6 feet tall, of average build, with a gray beard and a red and green jacket.

Anyone with information on either incident is asked to call Roanoke police at 853-5959, Roanoke County police at 561-8063 or Crime Line at 344-8500.