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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 19, 1990                   TAG: 9004190716
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

RACKETEERING SUSPECTS ARE JAILED UNTIL TRIAL

A magistrate ordered former fugitives William and Marika Runnells jailed until their June 5 trial on fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy and racketeering charges.

"This is not a difficult call at all," U.S. Magistrate William Prince said Wednesday after denying bail for the couple.

The pair had been on the run for two years from indictments in Norfolk when they were arrested in Dallas last month.

The couple fled in late March 1988 when a federal grand jury indicted them in the failure of their Landbank Equity Corp., once one of the country's largest second-mortgage lenders. According to prosecutors, the family milked millions from the company for their personal use and, after Landbank failed in 1984, they conspired to hide assets from creditors. - Associated Press

by CNB