Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993 TAG: 9307220470
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Bernard Stanley Brennan, 47, of St. Petersburg also was found guilty of trespassing on the Tech campus.
He was sentenced to slightly over 1 1/2 years in jail and was fined nearly $2,000.
General District Judge Thomas Frith also sent four charges of grand larceny to the next Montgomery County grand jury.
Brennan was originally charged with nine felonies, but three were dismissed because no witnesses showed up at Wednesday's hearing to testify in those cases.
Frith reduced two of the charges to petty larceny after the professors valued their stolen books at less than $200.
The judge sentenced Brennan to 90 days in jail for each petty larceny conviction, but suspended 60 days of each sentence. Brennan also was given 30 days to serve for trespassing, for a total of 19 months or about 1 1/2 years to serve.
He also was fined $1,900 for the misdemeanor convictions.
Brennan did not testify Wednesday, but his attorney, Dutton Olinger of Blacksburg, did note an appeal of the misdemeanor convictions.
Diane Denis, an assistant professor of business who works in Pamplin Hall, testified that Brennan was found in her office by another professor. He told them he heard the phone ringing and went in the office to see if anyone was there.
Later, she and the other professor, Dilip Shome, noticed books missing from their offices.
Hap Bonham, associate dean of administration and research, testified that Brennan told him he was buying used books but did not have permission to be on campus.
Bonham said the man ran away as he was talking to him and he pursued the man into a parking lot, where Brennan got into his car, a BMW.
During a search of the car, police found several boxes of books in the trunk and later found more books at a Christiansburg motel where Brennan was staying.
About 160 books were recovered. All but about 50 of them were later identified by Tech professors as having been stolen from their offices in Pamplin, Whittemore and Randolph halls.
by CNB