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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 2, 1994                   TAG: 9404040171
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-7   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

RADFORD POLICE PUT MOST-WANTED IDEA TO WORK

Pike created a list of the most-wanted suspects in Wythe County that was published in the Roanoke Times & World-News on March 27. The Radford police decided it was an idea good enough to copy.

So on Monday, Deputy Chief Jonny Butler and Sgt. Gary Harmon set about creating a most-wanted list for Radford..

They found that one of the men on the list, William Kirk Higginbotham, 28, had a Richmond address. Butler and Harmon called Chesterfield County, and within hours Higginbotham had been picked up, notified he had an outstanding charge in Radford and released on a promise to appear in Radford court.

Butler said the call - and subsequent collar - wouldn't have been made Monday if the police hadn't read about Pike's list and decided to develop their own.

Higginbotham was charged in 1992 in Radford with a misdemeanor of distributing marijuana.

The Radford police released information Tuesday about four other men they are searching for.

They are:

Willie Jack Dalton, 20, who may be in the Hiwassee or Montgomery County areas. Dalton is wanted on charges of grand larceny, petty larceny and breaking and entering. A bench warrant also has been issued for Dalton for failing to appear for trial.

Julian Cox, 30, formerly of Willow Woods Apartments in Radford. A bench warrant charges him with failing to appear in court to answer to three charges of forging and uttering and two misdemeanor bad check charges.

Frederick L. Hodges, 23, formerly of Willow Woods. The police said there is a bench warrant for his arrest to show cause why his probation should not be revoked. Police said Hodges had previously been convicted of grand larceny in the theft of a car stereo.

An unknown man who is wanted for questioning in what police characterize as a check kiting scheme in the New River Valley and perhaps even from Florida to Pennsylvania.

The man is suspected of opening savings accounts at banks in Radford, Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Floyd in November 1990 and then withdrawing money before bogus checks he deposited were discovered.

He cleared $6,000 in the New River Valley within a week.

Banks in Lexington and Winchester said they fell victim to similar scams.

Anyone with information about any of these cases may call the Radford City Police Department at 731-3624. The department's crime line number is 731-3627.