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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995                   TAG: 9505250071
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POLICE IMPOSTOR SENTENCED

A Roanoke man who stopped motorists, pretending to be a police officer, was sentenced to 27 months in jail at an appeal hearing Wednesday in Franklin County.

Roger Allen Barr was sentenced in March to 36 months in jail on nine charges of impersonating a police officer.

Circuit Judge B.A. Davis III dropped nine months from the total at Wednesday's hearing, said Mary Harkins, Barr's attorney.

The sentence will run consecutively with a 12-month sentence Barr received in Roanoke last week after pleading guilty to sexual battery, Harkins said.

Barr, 21, had been charged with rape in the Roanoke case, but prosecutors reduced the charge as part of a plea agreement.

Barr was arrested in Roanoke on Feb. 23. The Franklin County Sheriff's Office received a tip about the police impersonator from one of Barr's former schoolteachers, who was stopped by the man and recognized him.

Barr was out on bond awaiting a hearing on the rape charge at the time.

Franklin County investigators said Barr was using a flashing blue light on his vehicle to stop motorists. He then would approach the cars and ask to see the drivers' licenses.

None of the motorists was harmed.

by CNB