Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 1, 1993 TAG: 9309010155
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Brian K. Wilson, 33, admitted that he broke into Luigi's Italian Gourmet Restaurant on Feb. 17 because of a dispute with his estranged wife, who is part-owner of the establishment.
"This is a family matter that has blossomed into what we have here today," said Wilson, who served as his own defense attorney in the one-day trial.
Wilson said he feared that his wife, Maristane Rocha, was trying to take their child to Brazil. He said he broke into Luigi's to find documents that she needed to leave the country.
Authorities say that when Wilson could not find the papers, he took everything he could find: credit cards, jewelry, checks, seafood, liquor - even women's underwear.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Trabue found Wilson guilty of burglary and grand larceny. Wilson, who is on probation from charges in Salem, will be sentenced Oct. 20.
Less than than 24 hours after the Luigi's break-in, Wilson was nabbed trying to steal a toothbrush and hairbrush from the Super-X drugstore at Valley View Mall. Police later discovered the goods stolen from Luigi's in Wilson's car parked outside the mall.
At his shoplifting trial last month, Wilson said he was so preoccupied with his marital problems that he could not recall slipping the brushes into his pocket.
His memory had improved by Tuesday, when Wilson admitted trying to steal the brushes because he did not have enough money, according to Assistant Roanoke County Commonwealth's Attorney Bill Broadhurst.
by CNB