Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990                   TAG: 9004040996
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WINCHESTER                                LENGTH: Short

HE WANTS TO GO TO JAIL, BUT CAN'T

Sullivan said he fled Virginia after he was involved in a 1987 hit-and-run accident. He moved to North Carolina to avoid going to jail.

But Sullivan said he has since attended an alcohol treatment program and attempted to straighten out his life, and now has moved back to Frederick County and wants to pay his debt to society.

The problem is that the Winchester Police Department has no record of the hit-and-run. Sullivan said he tried to surrender, but the police told him he should just forget it.

"Trying to get in jail is really hard," Sullivan said. "I know the jail is overcrowded . . . but I think I can do a lot more good on the inside than on the outside."

Sullivan, who said he quit a job as a counselor three weeks ago, thought he could "help settle things down at the jail. I think I can get people to talk at a rational level, get them to understand what's going on, give them hope for the future."

He may yet get his chance.

An inquiry through the General District Court computer system showed that Sullivan was tried in his absence May 19, 1988, on charges of hit-and-run driving and driving with a suspended license. He was sentenced to three months in jail.

Court officials said the Police Department would have no record of the case because no warrant for Sullivan's arrest was issued.

Sullivan said now he plans to surrender to the General District Court office, where a judge would write an order to have him taken to jail.