Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995 TAG: 9505250097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Vernon Ricardo Cooper, Donald Parrish Smith, Leslie Melissa Gross and Deborah Sands, all from the Washington, D.C., area, were in General District Court on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. Each has been charged with grand larceny in connection with the April 19 theft of 14 rings from Lemon's Jewelry store at Old Country Plaza in Southwest Roanoke County.
According to the store manager, two women distracted her and a sales clerk while a man ran from the store with a tray of rings.
The suspects' car was chased by an off-duty rescue worker and, later, by another driver whose car was hit during the chase. A Roanoke police officer on radar duty on the Roy Webber Highway also joined the pursuit.
Police arrested all four suspects after the car they were in stopped on Wonju Street and the men fled on foot.
Randy Leach, the county's chief assistant commonwealth's attorney, said Smith, who police said drove the getaway car, was convicted Wednesday of one count of hit-and-run and sentenced to a year in jail.
Police also charged the other three suspects - Cooper, Gross and Sands - with giving false names. The judge dismissed the charges Wednesday because Virginia law applies only to residents, not people passing through the state.
Gross has bonded out of jail. The other three suspects remain in jail in lieu of $50,000 bond each, Leach said.
by CNB