EX-TROOPER, EX-WIFE CHARGED

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

DATE: SUNDAY, January 31, 1993                   TAG: 9301310122
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Southwest Bureau
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Short
EX-TROOPER, EX-WIFE CHARGED
A former state trooper and his ex-wife have been charged with stealing guns and other valuables in a break-in at a Wythe County home.
Leslie Lambert, 43, of Max Meadows, and Elizabeth Lambert, 35, of Route 4, Wytheville, were arrested last week in connection with a Jan. 16 break-in at the home of William Phillippi.
Elizabeth Lambert is charged with the breaking and entering, said Lt. Keith Dunagan of the Wythe County Sheriff's Department. Both are charged with conspiracy to commit a felony.
Dunagan said guns, antique coins and jewelry were stolen from the home. He said a key used to get into the house has been recovered.
The Lamberts face a preliminary hearing Feb. 26 in Wythe County General District Court.
They had been indicted in 1989, while still married, on charges of grand larceny stemming from their operation of a junked-car salvage business. Leslie Lambert was subsequently dismissed as a state trooper for having an outside job without permission.
Prosecutors in Carroll and Wythe counties eventually dropped those charges, which accused the couple of crushing cars under contracts with both counties and billing some of the same cars to both counties.
Dunagan said Elizabeth Lambert lives at the same residence where two men now charged in a series of break-ins in Wytheville and Wythe County also lived.
The men were among five arrested Jan. 21 and 22 in connection with a series of break-ins by an apparent burglary ring.
Dunagan said still more arrests are anticipated, in connection with a break-in at Rural Retreat Lake and thefts off an interstate exit near Fort Chiswell.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB