Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 3, 1991 TAG: 9103030106
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
"I called my roommate and told him, `I've got a POW in my living room," said Scott Chierepko, who took a picture of the suspect in Friday's incident. "I wanted my roommate to see him because it looked so funny to have this guy tied up in my living room."
Police later arrested the suspect.
Chierepko, a Navy Seabee who left Saturday for SEAL training, got home shortly after 1 p.m. Friday. He walked in his front door and saw three people in his bedroom down the hall.
"Hey what are you doing here?" he asked.
"They looked at me and dropped everything they had," Chierepko said. "They ran out . . . One veered to the left and two kept going. I chased one with a long coat about a quarter of a mile, dove after him and tackled him in the woods.
He put the youth in a headlock and dragged him back to his house, he said.
"I tied up his hands and legs and tied 50-pound weights to his arms and and legs so he couldn't get up. I even offered him food, but he didn't want any," Chierepko said.
The three were apparently on a second trip, Chierepko said, because two VCRs, two compact disc players and other items were missing. A police dog found a pair of weight-lifting gloves in the woods.
Chierepko was in Saudi Arabia from August to January and got back a week before the war started.
Police said his action might lead to other arrests. Police had three youths in custody Friday and were looking for two others in other burglaries.
Chierepko said that with a little persuasion, he got the names of the suspect's accomplices.
"The first thing I said when I grabbed the guy was, `You robbed the wrong house,' " he said.
"I interrogated the guy and got a lot out of him. It all worked out for the best. Except for him, everybody was happy."
by CNB