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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 5, 1995                   TAG: 9505050071
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SENTENCE SUSPENDED IN CHRISTMAS TREE THEFT

Ronceverte Powell IV, 36, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in connection with the theft of about 40 Christmas trees Dec. 6 from a Williamson Road lot where they were being sold.

Under the terms of an agreement reached in Roanoke Circuit Court, Powell was placed on probation for two years and ordered to pay for the stolen trees, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald Teaster.

The fraser firs belonged to Roanoke brothers James and Joseph Snyder, who have been in the Christmas tree business for nearly 40 years.

James Snyder had testified earlier that he was so familiar with the trees that he could recognize them on sight. When the trees turned up missing one morning, the Snyder brothers went for a ride around town to look for them.

They spotted the trees - or at least some of them - in Powell's front yard on Plantation Road, where they had been lined up in front of a "for sale" sign.