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

DATE: FRIDAY, September 9, 1994                   TAG: 9409090056
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SUSPECT CHARGED IN CALLS

If police have arrested the right man, women in Southwest Virginia and the Shenendoah Valley who have received obscene phone calls in the past few months may have less reason to fear a ringing phone.

A Roanoke truck driver has been charged with 38 counts of making obscene calls in Blacksburg and Harrisonburg, and is being investigated in Roanoke County and Botetourt County.

Leonard Arlin Gentry, 31, of the 2200 block of Courtland Road was arrested early this week at a pay phone near Pandapas Pond in Blacksburg, according to Capt. Walter Mosby of the Blacksburg police.

Gentry is charged by Blacksburg police with 23 counts of "using obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious language over the telephone," according to a police news release.

He faces 15 of the same misdemeanor charges in Harrisonburg, Sgt. Benny Gregory of the Harrisonburg police said.

Roanoke County police Det. Jeff Herrick also is investigating Gentry.

He says Gentry has admitted to some calls in the county, and he's researching obscene phone call complaints as far back as 1991 to see if Gentry might be responsible for any others.

"I could definitely make eight charges right now, but I need to do a thorough job," he said. "These [victims] deserve it."

Botetourt County Sheriff Reed Kelly says his office believes Gentry may be responsible for some calls in that area, as well.

Mosby said Blacksburg police had been investigating obscene calls in the past few months, and had traced some of them to the Pandapas Pond pay phone.

Around 4 a.m. Monday, two Blacksburg women received phone calls in which a man said he was outside their homes on a cellular phone, and if they didn't do as he said, he and some other men would break in and hurt them, according to the Blacksburg police news release.

Mosby said police officers drove out to the Pandapas Pond pay phone and detained Gentry. He was arrested at the police station without incident.

Gregory said similar calls were made to women in Harrisonburg in late July and early August. He said a teletype describing the calls was sent to other police departments, and Blacksburg police notified Harrisonburg when they arrested Gentry.

Herrick said Gentry told police he is a truck driver. That would give him the opportunity to make calls from many different areas, Gregory said.

Gentry was being held in the Montgomery County Jail in lieu of $14,000 bond.

by CNB