ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 31, 1993                   TAG: 9307310095
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Short


ACCOUNTANT ACCUSED OF PILFERING SWIM FUND

A Franklin County accountant is scheduled to stand trial Sept. 15 on charges that he stole more than $1,000 from a local swim club.

Authorities allege that Dennis Gilreath embezzled the money when he was treasurer of the Furnace Creek Swim Club from fall 1989 to fall 1990.

Bill Davis, a Rocky Mount attorney representing Gilreath, declined to comment on the embezzlement charge.

Gilreath has denied any wrongdoing. He told the Roanoke Times & World-News that there was some confusion in the swim club's books because he sometimes paid bills with his personal checks and then reimbursed himself with club funds.

Furnace Creek's 150-member roster includes some of the county's most prominent residents, including Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood and Rocky Mount Police Chief Butch Jenkins.

Both Hapgood and Jenkins excused themselves from the investigation, handled by the state police. Pittsylvania County Commonwealth's Attorney David Grimes has been appointed to prosecute the case.


Memo: story ran on C2 in the Metro edition.

by CNB