Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 14, 1994 TAG: 9410140101
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
An attorney for Patricia L. Willis argued that her client had been victimized by a system that allowed Civic Center employees, including Manager Bob Chapman and his former assistant, Mark Collins, to cash personal checks at the box office.
"Mr. Chapman kind of bristled when I called it a private bank," said Willis' attorney, Deborah Caldwell-Bono. "When you look at the facts, that's what it was."
Prosecutors argued the system led Lucy Mae Barlow to start borrowing several thousand dollars from the box office safe, which she never repaid. Willis knew Barlow was taking the money, but Barlow told her the money would be repaid.
Barlow earlier pleaded guilty to petty theft of the money, which she said she used to play the lottery and bingo.
Willis hugged family and friends, including Chapman, following the jury's verdict.
"It's been a long road," she said.
Chapman said Civic Center employees no longer are allowed to cash checks at the box office.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Phillips said Barlow started taking money from the box office in 1992 after Willis authorized her to have access to the safe.
In January 1993, the country music group Alabama was scheduled to come to town. Like many other music groups, Alabama requested a cash advance on its performance fee.
Mark Collins, then the Civic Center's assistant manager, drafted a check for the $5,000 that Alabama requested.
But on arrival, the group said it needed only $1,000. $4,000 was left in the safe.
About two months later, Collins was attempting to close out the books on the concert and found he was $5,000 short. He called Willis and asked her if she had noted the shortage. She told him her books looked fine.
Later in the day, Collins once again asked her about the shortage. She said she had found that the money had never been deposited.
When Collins checked the safe, he found the completed deposit slip in a bank bag, but the money was gone.
Collins testified that when he asked Willis what was going on, she told him that Barlow would be back shortly and perhaps she could explain. Barlow later admitted she had taken the Alabama money.
Chapman testified that Willis later told him she wished she had come to him months before about Barlow's taking money from the safe. He said Willis often tried to solve her office's problems without involving him. He also said she had a "big heart."
Barlow previously had run up a $2,000 tab by borrowing from the Civic Center till, but she repaid that money.
On several occasions, Willis told Barlow that she needed to put the money back before they got into trouble.
"It's not a legal wrong," Caldwell-Bono said. "It was a civil wrong. A moral wrong, perhaps. It's hard to even say that, when everyone over there was doing it, even the higher-ups."
by CNB