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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 6, 1993                   TAG: 9301060218
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MONTROSS                                LENGTH: Short

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MAN GETS 50 YEARS FOR RAPES OF ELDERLY

Lawrence E. Thompson Jr. has been sentenced to 50 years in prison on charges stemming from the rapes of three elderly women.

Thompson, 22, cut the telephone lines outside of his victims' homes before breaking windows or doors and wrestling them down on their beds. The victims were 84, 81 and 71 years old.

The rapes were part of a string of break-ins and attacks that took place over two years in rural Westmoreland and Richmond counties.

Thompson was arrested in June at an Essex County restaurant where he worked. He became a suspect after someone spotted him prowling around people's houses in the Oldhams area of Westmoreland.

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