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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 17, 1993                   TAG: 9311170051
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

ABC SAYS BEER DELIVERY `LIGHT'

A former Roanoke beer salesman faces four charges of stealing beer by allegedly shortchanging a Dublin supermarket on several deliveries and then diverting the beer for resale.

Mark Steven Patrick of Christiansburg was indicted Monday by a Pulaski County grand jury on four charges of grand larceny.

Patrick, whose age was not available, became the focus of a Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control investigation earlier this year.

Agents with the ABC seized 696 cans of Miller Lite beer from a house owned by a relative of Patrick's, according to a search warrant filed in the Montgomery County clerk's office. Agents also found 48 cans of Miller Genuine Draft, the warrant stated.

The beer was taken between Aug. 25 and Sept. 15, according to the indictments.

The search warrant stated that an ABC agent saw a salesman with Blue Ridge Beverage Co. shortchange a retailer - identified in the indictments as Wade's Supermarket in Dublin - out of about 59 cases of beer Sept. 1. There was a discrepancy between the amount of beer taken into the store and the amount shown on an invoice, the search warrant states.

Later that day, the agent saw the salesman carry the same amount of beer into a Christiansburg house, according to the search warrant.

A week later, the same agent again saw several cases of beer being unloaded at the Christiansburg house and learned that there was again a discrepancy in the amount of beer delivered and the amount for which the store was billed.

Patrick no longer is employed with Blue Ridge Beverage. Lee Blair, who works in the company's personnel office, said Patrick had worked for the company since late 1990.

In a related case, another Christiansburg man pleaded guilty to buying beer from an unlicensed person. Specifically, he pleaded guilty to buying some of the beer that Patrick now is charged with stealing.

Patrick Lamar Landreth, 27, of South Franklin Street, was accused of buying the beer Aug. 9 and Sept. 2.

The two charges were merged into one. Landreth pleaded guilty, was fined $500 and was given a 30-day suspended jail sentence.

by CNB