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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994                   TAG: 9402170125
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BURGLAR HAD SOME FINE TRASH IN THE CAN

But inside the wheeled trash cans that Stanley pushed along Roanoke sidewalks were televisions, VCRs and other appliances she had stolen from homes and churches.

She did it repeatedly without getting caught, until someone finally became suspicious the day she used a wheelbarrow.

Stanley, 30, pleaded no contest Wednesday to 18 charges of burglary and grand larceny.

Testimony in Roanoke Circuit Court showed that Stanley was stealing to feed a cocaine addiction when she burglarized nine Northwest Roanoke homes and churches from Sept. 23 to Oct. 26.

Detective J.A. Edmondson testified that many homes were broken into during the day, usually by knocking out a door window.

Once inside, Stanley admitted to police, she loaded televisions, VCRs, microwaves, cameras and other appliances into city-issued recycling trash bins she found in the homes.

She then pushed the loads to her home at Caru Apartments. At least one can was found tossed in a nearby wooded area.

One day, a woman returned home to find Stanley inside her house in mid-theft. "What are you doing here?" she asked Stanley, according to Edmondson's testimony.

"What are you doing here?" Stanley reportedly replied before leaving.

Despite that encounter and several other instances in which residents were puzzled by a strange woman and her trash can, no one reported Stanley's activities until more than a dozen homes had been burglarized.

An anonymous caller did contact police, however, when Stanley was seen pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with stolen goods down Country Club Road.

Also broken into were Fairview United Methodist Church, Washington Heights Grace Brethren Church and Connelly Memorial Baptist Church.

Stanley had faced nine other charges, but those were dropped as part of a plea agreement. She will be sentenced later.

Stanley told police she had help in some of the burglaries, but no one else has been charged.

Edmondson testified that most of the stolen goods were traded for drugs and had changed hands several times by the time police became involved.