WOMAN AGAIN FACES CHARGE OF STEALING MAIL

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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 11, 1993                   TAG: 9303110144
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
WOMAN AGAIN FACES CHARGE OF STEALING MAIL
A woman charged two years ago with stealing 5,000 pieces of mail from a Roanoke County apartment complex now has been accused of stealing mail on Walnut Avenue Southeast.
Federal charges against Ann Kennedy Dickens were filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.
Judge James Turk ordered Dickens to undergo a psychiatric examination at the Roanoke Memorial Rehabilitation Center.
In 1991, federal mail theft charges against Dickens were dropped after she was found to be mentally ill.
Dickens was arrested in December 1990 after she was videotaped taking six dummy letters from a mailbox at Pebble Creek Apartments in Southwest Roanoke County, where she lived alone.
Authorities found approximately 5,000 pieces of stolen mail - most of it unopened - in her apartment.
The latest charges against Dickens came after postal officials received complaints about missing mail from residents on Walnut Avenue Southeast.
An affidavit filed by Postal Inspector Kevin F. Boyle said residents complained that both incoming and outgoing mail had been taken from residential mailboxes along the street.
Tuesday, Boyle met on Walnut Avenue with Roanoke Police Officer B.A. McGhee, who said he had received a complaint about someone stealing mail. Boyle said McGhee had received other complaints in previous days about a woman stealing mail.
Later, Dickens was interviewed at her apartment. Boyle said she admitted stealing about 400 pieces of mail that she later turned over to authorities.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB