Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411040084
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Indictments issued by Radford grand juries charged Robert E. White, a partner at the New River Camping Center on First Street, with selling 14 RVs without paying off more than $300,000 in liens on the vehicles. White also was charged with collecting life insurance premiums that were not sent on to the insurance companies and receiving $27,000 from a bank through false pretenses
White, 46, formerly of Dublin, received a suspended 85-year prison sentence, but was placed on indefinite probation and ordered to pay $600 a month in restitution. He faced a maximum punishment of 340 years.
The case had been set for a two-day trial in Radford Circuit Court but White, his attorney and Commonwealth's Attorney Randal Duncan reached a plea agreement that was accepted by Judge Duane Mink.
Duncan said the victims in the case approved of the plea agreement and were more interested in getting compensated for their losses than seeing White serve penitentiary time.
The exact amount of restitution was unclear. Some lienholders sold the RVs remaining on the lot to recover their losses, Duncan said.
Defense lawyer Michael Barbour said White pleaded guilty to the 14 unlawful sale of property charges because he was guilty. White pleaded guilty to the two counts of embezzlement and "no contest" to the charge of obtaining money under false pretenses because he believed there was enough evidence to convict him. Barbour said that White "didn't believe at the time that he was committing criminal offenses."
Barbour told Mink that money that was not applied to the liens of the 14 vehicles went back into the business and did not go into White's pockets. Barbour said while that money should have been used to pay off liens owed to credit companies, it was instead used to pay off previous debts of a failing business that eventually collapsed.
The two embezzlement charges involve life insurance premiums paid to White as part of RV transactions, rebate checks and a $50,000 check to the business that was deposited into a trust account by June L. White, Robert White's wife.
The false pretenses charge revolved around $27,000 from Central Fidelity Bank for a refinancing package. The funds advanced by the bank were never applied to the original lienholder, Duncan said, and the customers who bought the RV are now making payments to both the bank and the original lienholder.
Six charges of embezzlement and conspiracy pending against June White were dismissed, as were three conspiracy charges against Robert White.
The actions June White took were based on her husband's instructions, according to evidence entered into the record Thursday.
White now resides in Indiana, where he continues to sell RVs.
Duncan said the problems began to surface several months after the death of the camping center's principal owner, Frank H."Buddy" Martin Jr., who was not involved in the daily business but checked on the business regularly to make sure things were running properly.
Four embezzlement charges remain against Robert White, alleging that he collected license, registration and sales fees but never sent to money to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Those charges will be resolved sometime next year.
by CNB