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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 28, 1993                   TAG: 9305280034
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HE GETS HIS FOR TRYING TO GET EVEN

After she stole money from his wallet, Mathis said, he decided to break into her apartment and take some of her stuff.

The problem was that he got the wrong apartment.

Thursday, Mathis told a Roanoke County judge that he made an honest mistake.

"I did not mean to break into this [other] woman's house," he said. "I didn't even wear gloves. It was in broad daylight."

Commonwealth's Attorney F.W. "Skip" Burkhart argued that Mathis had set out with criminal intent - no matter where he ended up.

"The fact he hit the wrong door is not a legal defense," Burkhart said.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Trabue agreed and found Mathis guilty of misdemeanor petty larceny, but withheld a finding of guilt or innocence on a felony breaking-and-entering charge.

If convicted of the more serious charge, Mathis could face up to 70 years in prison because he is on probation for a string of burglaries in the early 1980s.

Mathis, 35, will be sentenced July 21 after a background investigation.

His attorney, M. Dean Cranwell, argued that Mathis had been caught up in the emotion of a "tit-for-tat" divorce that had dragged on for five years.

Cranwell said the burglary case probably would not have ended up in court if Mathis had broken into his wife's apartment instead of her neighbor's.

Mathis testified that his estranged wife stole things from his apartment at least three times shortly after they split up in 1988.

The couple made up briefly in December when they ran into each other at a night spot and decided to spend the night together at a hotel, he said.

Mathis testified that when he got out of the shower the next morning, his wife was gone and money was missing from his wallet.

Mathis said he decided to forget the incident until his wife called a month later and asked him if he wanted to get together again "because her rent was due."

In a rage, he drove straight to what he thought was his wife's apartment and kicked in the door. He fled with a pillow case stuffed with a portable stereo and compact discs. He later confessed and returned the goods.

"I was trying to take stuff just to let my wife know she couldn't get away with it."