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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 5, 1992                   TAG: 9203050157
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

WEAPONS CHARGE DISMISSED; BOMB CHARGES STAND

A concealed weapon charge against Gregory J. Washenberger, 29, of Piedmont Street, was dismissed Wednesday in General District Court, but he still faces charges of manufacturing or possessing an explosive device and threatening to bomb a residence.

The two charges will be heard May 13. Another charge of attempting to wound an 18-year-old woman was not prosecuted in Radford General District Court last month because the woman has left the area and notified court officials she would not return to the area, defense attorney Dutton Olinger said.

Washenberger was charged by state and Blacksburg police in December after police responded to a domestic dispute complaint in the 300 block of Piedmont Street just after midnight Dec. 28.

According to police, while the woman was at the Blacksburg Police Department to get a warrant for attempted malicious wounding, police discovered some type of explosive device in the apartment complex parking lot where Washenberger lived.

While the police were there, Washenberger returned and he was arrested on the attempted malicious wounding charge. Police found two rifles in his car, and charged him with carrying a concealed weapon.

Skip Schwab, Montgomery County assistant commonwealth's attorney, said Wednesday that the rifles were unloaded in the rear of the hatchback car and under a suitcase.

by CNB