Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 27, 1995 TAG: 9501270042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
More than $200,000 in jewelry and cash and credit cards have been stolen from the Hampton Inn and Days Inn off Interstate 81 in Christiansburg since 1991, Lt. Doug Marrs said Wednesday.
An investigation of similar thefts is ongoing in Wytheville.
``We feel like that is an organized effort of three or more people,'' Marrs said. ``... We have evidence that they have been operating in Virginia since 1989.''
Police believe the theft ring operates across Virginia and into North Carolina and Tennessee, particularly along Interstate 81, but also Interstates 95 and 40, and Interstate 26 in South Carolina.
Eric Lavan Lokey, 28, of Orangeburg, S.C., was charged last month with three counts each of breaking and entering and grand larceny. He also was charged with one count of credit card theft. The charges involve burglaries at the Christiansburg motels in 1991 and 1993.
Marrs said that North Carolina police stopped Lokey and others Sept. 2, 1993 - one day after a break-in at the Days Inn - and found homemade master keys and two keys inscribed ``DI I-81 CHRIS.'' They also found $9,000 worth of jewelry now thought to have come from the Days Inn, he said.
Christiansburg police didn't learn about that North Carolina stop until they recently ran a computer check on Lokey, who had become a suspect in their investigation. Marrs said Lokey's fingerprints also were found on a receipt for a credit card that was taken from the Days Inn in the September 1993 burglary.
Lokey was extradited to Montgomery County earlier this month and is in jail. His bond has been set at $50,000.
An investigation is continuing, Marrs said, and police believe others helped Lokey commit the burglaries.
``Through some cooperative efforts, there have been arrests made in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia,'' Marrs said.
Lokey is the only person Christiansburg police have charged.
Marrs said crime victims in the motel thefts ``are normally a retired person traveling to and from Florida, or an elderly couple. ... Most of the time, they have all their jewelry and cash with them.''
The thefts happened when guests went to dinner or breakfast in the motel restaurant. One person would act as lookout, while another would enter the rooms, Marrs said.
The thieves ``take the door lock out and put a dummy lock back in its place. Then in 10 to 40 minutes, they make a master key that will open every room,'' Marrs said. After taking what they wanted, the thieves left the room locked and appearing untouched, he said.
``They will burglarize no more than two rooms at any one motel, but may hit more than one motel and then move to the next town,'' Marrs said.
Motels in Wytheville also have been hit, perhaps by the same or a similar theft ring. No charges have been filed, but as much as $250,000 has been taken since 1989, Wytheville police Lt. Marty Alford said.
``They know the difference between good stuff and junk,'' Alford said of the thieves. ``They never took the costume. They always took quality jewelry.''
As in Christiansburg, thieves used master keys and had spotters watching while the rooms were being looted.
``They weren't even afraid of being seen,'' Alford said.
Many victims didn't discover their losses until after leaving the motels.
Alford said town investigators interviewed employees at the motels, suspecting an inside job.
``We went through one property's entire staff,'' Alford said.
The possibility that the thefts were part of an extensive ring began to loom large once municipal and state police throughout Virginia and the FBI began sharing information about their similar cases.
Marrs said any law enforcement agency investigating similar thefts that needs information on the suspected thieves or their method of operation may call Investigator Barry O'Rourke at 382-3131.
by CNB