Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9409010108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DANVILLE - Authorities in Southside Virginia worked Wednesday to round up about 150 people indicted in a two-year drug investigation.
``Operation Talisman'' targeted drug rings in Halifax, Pittsylvania and Henry counties and the cities of Danville and Martinsville, but authorities said many of those indicted were loosely affiliated with one another.
At least 93 were arrested Tuesday and Wednesday. They were being processed at the National Guard Armory in Danville.
About 120 agents from 18 local, state and federal agencies participated in the investigation.
The name of the operation ``was chosen because the intelligence information suggested that some of the defendants believed themselves immune from prosecution and isolated against arrest by practicing voodoo,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Rusty Fitzgerald.
- Associated Press
Delegate seeks end to rattlesnake study
CHESAPEAKE - For the last two years, biologists Alan and Barbara Savitzky have tracked 15 to 25 canebrake rattlesnakes in the Northwest River Park in Chesapeake.
But two of the snakes recently crossed a wide creek and moved to farmland. When the researchers tried to follow, the landowners would not allow them on their land and complained to Del. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, about the state-funded research.
The Savitzkys received $49,500 from the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for a three-year study of the snake, which is on the state's endangered species list.
Forbes said he plans to ask Gov. George Allen to direct the game department to spend its money elsewhere.
- Associated Press
Ex-girlfriend charged with sexual assault
STAFFORD - A woman has been charged with breaking into her former boyfriend's house and performing oral sex on him while he slept.
The 36-year-old man told police that Judith L. Fuchs, 28, of Stafford County, had been harassing him for several months before Monday night's incident, said police Maj. Mickey Coffey.
The incident occurred about 11 p.m. After entering through the unlocked front door and removing everything but her underwear, Coffey said, Fuchs allegedly began sodomizing the man.
``This had occurred without him knowing about it until the act started. At what point he woke up'' is unclear, Coffey said. ``When he wakes up, he says, `Go away; I'm tired.' She starts beating and punching and kicking him. He finally throws her out, locked his door and went back to bed.''
Coffey said the woman called 911, but hung up without saying anything. When the police - who had traced her call - arrived, Fuchs said she had been beaten by a neighbor. But she later confirmed the man's story, Coffey said.
- Associated Press
3rd man arrested in toddler's killing
CHARLOTTESVILLE - FBI agents and New York City police have arrested a third man wanted in a shootout that killed a Charlottesville toddler.
Tamol McIntosh, 18, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was arrested about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on a charge of discharging a firearm in an occupied dwelling resulting in death, said Charlottesville police Detective B.A. Bibb.
McIntosh was turned over to New York authorities to await possible extradition to Virginia.
The charge stems from the Jan. 8 killing of 2-year-old Sharon D. Tanner in a Charlottesville apartment where she lived with her mother. The girl apparently wandered into the cross fire of what authorities called a drug-related shootout.
Two other New York men, Neil Christopher Harvey, 23, and Edward Jean-Baptiste, 21, also were arrested in the case.
- Associated Press
Suffolk leads Va. in traffic fatalities
SUFFOLK- Suffolk led Virginia last year in the number of traffic deaths per thousand licensed drivers, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Suffolk had 15 traffic fatalities in 1993. The city has 36,105 licensed drivers, giving it the state's highest traffic death rate of .42 deaths per thousand licensed drivers. Emporia was second at .34 deaths per thousand.
State Department of Transportation engineers said Suffolk's rural roads, with little or no shoulders and high speed limits, might be factors in the high accident rate. The heavy volume of traffic, especially trucks, on U.S. 58 and Interstate 664 through town may also be factors, they said.
Overall, 875 people were killed in traffic accidents in Virginia last year, a 4.3 percent increase over 1992.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB