Police are asking the public for help in identifying three males who beat and robbed the manager of the Applebee's restaurant on Wednesday.

Sidney police were dispatched to the restaurant, 221 N. Vandemark Road, at about 10:22 a.m. on a report of a strong-arm robbery.

According to a preliminary investigation, the 63-year-old female manager left the business to make the previous night's deposits when she was stopped in the parking lot by three males believed to be in their late teens or early 20s. She was walking to her vehicle, which was parked on the west side of the business.

The males asked for directions and then hit her several times, knocking her to the ground and stealing the money bag she had concealed under her coat. The three fled north on Vandemark Road in a small, silver four-door vehicle. The money bag, minus approximately $1,000 that had been inside it, was recovered in the road on Leisure Court between the Lowe's and Mernard's stores.

The manager, whose name was not released, was taken to Wilson hospital. Her injuries were not believed to be life threatening, police said.

Anyone who may have been in the area of the Applebee’s or in the area of Leisure Court about the time of the robbery is asked to call the Sidney police detective section at (937) 498-
2351.