Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 15, 1991 TAG: 9102150228
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Wolthuis said Thursday that he was in the process of entering a judgment of acquittal that would clear Ann Kennedy Dickens of a one-count charge of possession of stolen U.S. mail "by reason of insanity."
Wolthuis said he expected a judge to sign the order today.
Dickens, 57, was arrested last December after she was videotaped taking six dummy letters from a mailbox at Pebble Creek Apartments in Southwest Roanoke County, where she lived alone.
Authorities found approximately 5,000 pieces of stolen mail - most of it unopened - in her apartment. Also among the items confiscated from her apartment were newspapers and packages from United Parcel Service and Federal Express.
An investigation by federal authorities and Roanoke County detectives was prompted by a half-dozen complaints about the loss of mail from residents of Pebble Creek and nearby Honeywood apartments.
U.S. Magistrate Glen Conrad ordered Dickens to undergo a mental examination after her arrest. A preliminary evaluation at the Roanoke Valley Psychiatric Center in Salem and a more detailed follow-up evaluation at a federal prison in Lexington, Ky. determined that Dickens was "insane and not realizing the character of the act at the time," Wolthuis said.
Dickens was transferred last week from Lexington to the psychiatric center, where she awaits the outcome of a state commitment hearing that will determine whether she should be sent to a state mental facility. That hearing was scheduled for Thursday afternoon at the center.
Its outcome was not available late Thursday.
Wolthuis said he was unsure whether efforts were under way to dismiss two misdemeanor counts of larceny that Dickens faces in Roanoke County.
by CNB