Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 31, 1992 TAG: 9201310035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SHELBY, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
IMPOSTER CHARGED IN RACING ITEM THEFT
A North Carolina man has been charged with posing as the brother of late NASCAR driver J.D. McDuffie in an effort to obtain collectible race memorabilia.Jeffery Tobias Bennett, 31, of Grover was charged Wednesday with obtaining property under false pretenses. He was being held Thursday under a $10,000 secured bond in the Cleveland County Jail.
The charges were filed after a man obtained the uniform and goggles that McDuffie was wearing at the time of his death on Aug. 11, 1991.
McDuffie, 52, a NASCAR driver for 28 years, was killed when his car collided with another, hit the fence and flipped over during a race at Watkins Glen Speedway in New York.
McDuffie's widow, Ima Jean McDuffie of Sanford, complained to the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department when she learned someone was trying to get her husband's belongings.
Ima Jean McDuffie said a man contacted the Skylar County, N.Y., Sheriff's Department the day after her husband's death, told authorities he was McDuffie's brother and asked that the dead man's clothing be mailed to him.
Mrs. McDuffie said the man got her husband's uniform, prescription goggles, shoes, socks and underwear.
McDuffie's jewelry was sent back to Sanford with his body, and his helmet was recovered by NASCAR officials. The clothing was given to the Skylar County Sheriff's Department. The goggles are still missing.
Police say the same man contacted NASCAR teams and asked for items that could be auctioned to benefit Mrs. McDuffie. Officials say no auction was held, and police have recovered several of the items sold to race shops in Charlotte and Gastonia.
The Cleveland County Sheriff's Department has McDuffie's racing outfit.
Among the items that police say Bennett received from NASCAR teams are a pair of autographed gloves from driver Derrike Cope and a pit crew uniform from Davey Allison's team.
"The things this man has done have hurt me just about as much as J.D.'s death," Mrs. McDuffie said Thursday. "I feel that our privacy has been invaded. It's really very painful. If anybody has J.D.'s goggles, I'd really like to have them back."
McDuffie's goggles are described as large, black rubber racing goggles with prescription lenses.
Bennett has prior larceny convictions in both Rutherford and Cleveland counties and is on parole, Detective Lt. Raymond Hamrick of the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department said.
Bennett was arrested Wednesday when he was in Mecklenburg District Court for a traffic violation.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING