Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
A former state trooper who hid bombs so he could find them with his explosives-sniffing dog was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison.
``It's a very sad case,'' U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith said as she sentenced Vernon Roy Richards, who pleaded guilty Jan. 4 to seven counts of unlawfully trying to destroy buildings by fire and explosives.
Richards, 41, had faced a maximum sentence of 10 years on each count, but under federal law the sentences had to run concurrently. There is no federal parole, so Richards must serve the entire sentence.
None of the devices planted by Richards exploded, but the Hampton General District Court building suffered minor damage in the intentional detonation of a device found there last September.
Richards, a 14-year Virginia State Police veteran, and his black Labrador, Master Blaster, won praise as local heroes last summer after they found bombs at two area malls.
Richards also was credited with discovering explosives in a sweep of the Richmond Coliseum before a visit in June by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
But other law enforcement agents became suspicious of him during the investigation of three devices found at the Hampton courthouse.
A film canister containing gunpowder that Richards said he found in the back yard of Eric Lee, a teen-ager who lives near the building, was dry, despite heavy dew on the ground.
Authorities set up a storage shed with a hidden camera and asked Richards to search it. The camera caught him planting explosives.
``It's a nerve-racking thing for someone to do this,'' Gwendolyn Lee-Holloway, the teen-ager's mother, testified at Richards' sentencing as her son looked on.
She said about a dozen police officers converged on her house at midnight one night, asking questions about Eric and requesting to search the property.
Lee-Holloway, a teacher, said she agreed to a search because she knew her son wasn't involved in any wrongdoing. The youth was questioned but was never charged.
Richards did not make a statement in court. Ron Smith, his attorney, asked the judge to consider the motivation behind his client's actions.
Authorities conceded that Richards wanted only to enhance his reputation as someone who could find hidden explosives.
``His intention was not to injure anyone and was not to blow up anything,'' Smith told the judge.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael R. Smythers, while crediting Richards for cooperating with investigators, said the trooper's actions damaged the trust that people have in law enforcement officers.
by CNB