Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 10, 1993 TAG: 9303100344
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
COURT ALLOWS BAIL BONDSMAN TO KEEP LICENSE
Bail bondsman Roger Roberts says he's sick and tired of having to answer for three misdemeanor "Peeping Tom" convictions that happened more than a decade ago."I'd rather take a damn beating," Roberts said Tuesday. "I'd rather be Rodney King and get it over with at once."
Roberts, 55, was forced to appear in Roanoke County Circuit Court on Tuesday to defend himself against a prosecution's motion to revoke his license to do business in the county.
Circuit Judge G.O. Clemens allowed Roberts to keep his license because he has had no criminal convictions since he received his bondsman license in 1987.
Prosecutors filed the civil motion a year ago when Roberts faced separate charges of striking his wife and breaking into a Salem residence. Both charges were later dropped.
Charlie Phillips, an attorney for Roberts, suggested that prosecutors were harassing his client by hauling him into court without any evidence.
"This is not a witch hunt," replied Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach. "This is just us doing our job."
Leach argued that someone with Roberts' arrest record should not be getting people out of jail. The prosecutor claimed that Roberts is morally unfit - that he uses his license as bail bondsman to further his "propensity" to window peep.
Roberts, who runs Allstate Bonding Co. in Salem, was convicted of three counts of window peeping, most recently in 1980.
Three other charges were dismissed or reversed on appeal when Roberts explained he was peering into windows of Roanoke County homes in search of bond-jumpers.
On Tuesday, Roberts agreed to notify area police before he ventures into apartment complexes or subdivisions to search out wayward clients.
Judge Clemens said he was well aware that Roberts has been arrested - but not convicted - in the six years he has been licensed to write bonds in the judicial circuit that includes Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem.
"I guess the court can't help but to feel concerned," Clemens said. "But it has not been proven to me that he has misused his position at this point."