Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 13, 1992 TAG: 9203130464
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM WHITE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At the Raleigh Court Civic League's monthly meeting, parents told each other about suspicious cars and suspicious men, and children being followed near their homes.
Jon Wilson watched with particular interest.
"They feel right now the same way I did when I was in that position," said Wilson, 37. "And it's not fair. It's not fair to the children; it's not fair to them."
Wilson was frustrated because the man he says he helped prosecute a year and a half ago apparently is back in the neighborhood following children in a car.
Wilson said his daughter, who was 10 and a pupil at Raleigh Court School at the time, and another child had testified against the man in Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court after he followed her "at least a dozen times" in October 1990.
"The worst case was when one morning he parked across from our house and he waited for my daughter to leave the house," Wilson said. "He slowly followed her to the bus stop. And he drove around the block several times until the bus came."
Although the man never spoke to his daughter, Wilson says, she was traumatized.
Wilson said the man had been on probation after an earlier conviction for making obscene phones calls to a girl. Wilson said he was there when a juvenile court judge lectured the man.
The judge's exact words were " `Stay out of Southwest,' " Wilson said. "He said it was legal for a normal person to drive aimlessly around and look at anybody. But [he told the man], `You are not a normal person; you are a pedophile. You derive sexual pleasure from the harassment and intimidation of children. My court will not tolerate this kind of behavior.'
"My question I want answered is: Why can't we pick this guy up?" Wilson said.
Wilson said the man had been ordered to serve a 30-day jail sentence.
Information about the court case could not be obtained Thursday night, and records of most juvenile court cases are sealed. The man is not being named in the newspaper because he is not charged with a crime.
As Wilson talked outside a meeting room at Christ Lutheran Church on Grandin Road, some parents inside were raising questions about the role of the schools, the police and the School Board.
Some worried about communications among schools and between schools and the administration. They wondered why so many had found out from a newspaper article that schoolchildren were being followed by a man twice accused of trying to abduct young children.
School Board member Wendy O'Neil and City Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles - still there after a candidates' forum earlier - said they would seek answers.
Raleigh Court Civic League President David Camper cautioned residents they should let the system take care of things.
"Don't do anything on your own," he said. "I've been told by the detectives that he can be very violent. And don't do anything that would jeopardize this case.
"The police know all about this man," he added. "They know when he sneezes. They know what he ate for breakfast. I've talked with the commonwealth's attorney, and they're going to do something about it."
Tim Bennett's 13-year-old daughter had been followed this week by a man in a car as she walked to a friend's house. He spoke not only of her fear but of his high school-age daughter who is afraid even to go jogging near home.
Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke, suggested using a piece of legislation that just passed the General Assembly: the "stalking bill," which makes it a crime to follow someone with intent to injure or intimidate. Gov. Gov. Douglas Wilder is expected to sign it July 1. Bell said he would seek emergency status for the bill, so Wilder could sign it into law immediately.
That couldn't come too soon for Wilson.
"I tried to get something done a year and a half ago. I pushed the system as hard as I could," he said. "He's through with my daughter. He likes small children, and my girl is 12 now - and she's a big girl. But I feel bad now that I see that it's happening to other children. It's all needless.
"This man is a bomb waiting to go off."
by CNB