Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 15, 1994 TAG: 9412150065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Leonard Arlin Gentry, 31, of the 2200 block of Courtland Road, pleaded guilty to 16 misdemeanor charges Wednesday in Harrisonburg General District Court and to 28 last Thursday in Blacksburg.
Judge Thomas Frith Jr. sentenced Gentry to 180 days in jail for the Blacksburg charges, with an additional 900 days suspended, plus $600 in fines, according to Montgomery County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Schwab.
Gentry received 10 days for each of the charges in Harrisonburg, to be served concurrently with the sentence in Blacksburg, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Richard Claybrook said.
"He really got a pretty good deal," Claybrook said. "If this thing was tried, he could serve 12 months on each of these charges."
Claybrook's office agreed to let the Blacksburg prosecutors take the lead in the case. The deal saved the Harrisonburg victims, most of whom are James Madison University students, from coming to court, Claybrook said.
The sentencing did not mandate psychological counseling, but Claybrook said he and the Blacksburg prosecutors are hoping Gentry will seek counseling on his own.
"It sounds like he ought to," Claybrook said. "But he's got 21/2 years of comeback time if he makes one phone call."
Gentry was arrested Sept. 5 at a Blacksburg pay phone after two Blacksburg women reported receiving 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.
A Teletype message describing a rash of similar calls in Harrisonburg led police to link Gentry to the Blacksburg calls. Gentry was able to make calls from many different areas because he was a truck driver, Harrisonburg police said at the time.
Gentry has admitted making some calls in Roanoke County, too, according to Roanoke County Detective Jeff Herrick. He said his investigation of Gentry is continuing.
Herrick believes Gentry is responsible for a large number of calls in Roanoke County. He is waiting until he can positively link Gentry to as many as possible before he files charges.
Gentry is in the Montgomery County Jail, where he will serve his sentence.
Staff writer Kathy Loan contributed information to this story.
by CNB