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

DATE: SATURDAY, December 17, 1994                   TAG: 9412190056
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

DID HE GULP RING? POLICE AWAIT PROOF

A Blacksburg man suspected of stealing a ring from a Christiansburg jewelry store on Friday was being held in jail until police can, er, recover the evidence.

Police believe the man swallowed the ring.

Several town officers, detectives and state police responded to what they thought was a robbery at Friedman's Jewelers in the Marketplace shopping center off North Franklin Street.

An investigation revealed the store had not been robbed, but that a man had left the store with a ladies' engagement ring valued at about $600.

Police found the suspect in the parking lot and put him in a patrol car while they searched his girlfriend's car and the lot. The girlfriend knew nothing about the incident and nothing was found in her car, said Lt. Doug Marrs.

Scott E. Smith, 20, of the 300 block of Givens Lane, has been charged with grand larceny and was being held in Montgomery County Jail.

Police were unsure of the carat size of the ring. A store employee said company policy prohibited the release of that information.

Police will know that information soon enough: Marrs said that, as far as he knew, Smith has "got to stay in jail until it comes out."

by CNB