Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 20, 1993 TAG: 9309200152
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: Medium
Richard D. Jones, 33, of Shelby, N.C., was arrested without incident at a bus station in Lynchburg on a fugitive-from-justice warrant, said Capt. Tommy Litton of the Gaston County, N.C., police.
Gaston County authorities on Friday notified police in Greenwich, Conn., where Gifford lives, about the threats that a rape victim said Jones had made. They also notified Gifford's security staff at an Atlantic City hotel where she stayed while taping the Miss America pageant over the weekend.
Jones is charged with tying up, beating and raping a 59-year-old Gaston County woman. Police said the suspect made the threats against Gifford during the attack.
Gifford appears on the daily talk show "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee."
"He had made mention that he would like to kidnap [Gifford] and get some money," said Gaston County Police Capt. Archie Huffstetler.
Police recovered a scrapbook that Jones apparently made containing pictures of Gifford from celebrity magazines, Huffstetler said. Authorities said the scrapbook was left at the rape victim's house.
The rape occurred in a home in southern Gaston County on Wednesday. The woman told police she let a man she recognized into her house around midnight after he knocked on her door.
The man then forced the woman into her bedroom, bound her with duct tape and raped her. He also forced her to write him a $1,400 check and fled in the woman's car.
Authorities found what was thought to be the stolen car at the Lynchburg Regional Airport.
Jones was being held in the Lynchburg City Jail without bond pending extradition proceedings.
by CNB