Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 18, 1991 TAG: 9104180214
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Bedford Minute Market owner Kenneth Patterson, 47, is charged with soliciting another person to commit arson, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
A General District Court judge Wednesday set Patterson's bond at $200,000 despite a request from Bedford's prosecutor that Patterson be held in jail without bond pending a preliminary hearing May 29.
Patterson attracted national attention in 1989 when he burned hundreds of X-rated videotapes and stripped adult magazines from his store shelves, after serial sex killer Ted Bundy blamed his crimes on pornography.
Patterson testified on Wednesday but did not speak to the charge itself because the hearing was on the question of bond. Patterson, who has been in the county jail since Sunday, told Judge J.C. Crumbley that he was going through a difficult period in his life.
During the Wednesday hearing, a prosecution witness testified that Patterson asked him to burn down a house that belonged to the sister of Patterson's wife.
In his testimony, William Wright described an arson plot, complete with code words and a payoff.
Wright, who said he and Patterson were close friends, testified that Patterson asked him in early March to do the burning. "He said, `I've got a job I want you to do,' " Wright told Crumbley. "And he flicked his cigarette lighter a couple times."
A short while later, Patterson said the task involved burning down his sister-in-law's Bedford County house, Wright said.
Wright, who has served prison time on felony convictions, said he was so torn up by the suggestion that he had trouble sleeping for the next few days. "I knew I was in a bad financial bind. . . . Was I gonna say yes? Or, was I going to prevent it?" Wright recalled thinking.
A few days later, Wright reluctantly contacted an investigator in the Bedford County Sheriff's Department, he said.
In Wright's next couple of conversations with Patterson about how to carry out the fire, Wright wore a Sheriff's Department microphone under his clothes.
Patterson showed Wright how to get to the house and the two set up code phrases related to the fire, Wright said.
When Patterson told Wright "The dog's gone out" over Easter weekend - when the fire was to occur - Wright knew that meant the plans had been put off, he said.
When Patterson called Saturday to say, "It's time to pick up the dogs," Wright said he knew that meant the fire was on.
Wright then headed for Patterson's house - with a sheriff's investigator close behind. There, Patterson gave Wright $500 in $20 bills, Wright said.
Shortly thereafter, sheriff's officials arrested Patterson.
Under cross-examination, Wright admitted that Patterson had not wanted anyone injured in the fire and had made sure that the house would be empty. "I don't want nobody to get hurt," Wright remembered Patterson saying.
In other testimony, prosecutor James Updike suggested that Patterson's separation from his wife of 24 years might have had a connection to the plan. "Doesn't he blame his wife's family for the breakup of his marriage?" Updike asked one of Patterson's brothers, who testified on his behalf.
The husband of Patterson's sister-in-law testified that Patterson had threatened to kill himself and others in recent months.
The alleged arson plot, Patrick Plourd said, scared and shocked him. "I thought we were the best of friends," said Plourd, whose house Patterson allegedly wanted to burn. "I thought that right up to Sunday. Right up to Sunday, honest to God."
Plourd testified that he was also concerned about what Patterson might do if he were released on bond. "Mr. Patterson has no reservation to do himself in. And he is not going alone," Plourd said.
But Patterson's other relatives and a member of the county Board of Supervisors described Patterson as a respected member of the community.
Defense attorney Drew Davis said that Patterson needed to be let out of jail on bond so he could receive counseling and therapy. "Up until the time he and his wife were having marital problems, . . . he led an exemplary life," Davis said.
Prosecutor Updike agreed. "But the Kenneth Patterson we have seen evidence of in recent months is not the same Kenneth Patterson," Updike said, arguing that no bond be set in the case.
"We don't want anything to happen to Kenneth Patterson," Updike said.
by CNB