Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 3, 1995 TAG: 9506050048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After Robert Paul Dallas, 49, was arrested three months ago and charged with possession of child pornography and four counts of sexual abuse, prosecutors predicted that the number of charges would rise to "double digits."
Police searched the defendant's Capito Street home in March after two sisters filed complaints against Dallas. The women, who are now in their 20s, said Dallas befriended them in the late 1970s, when they were 7 and 9, and began forcing them to engage in sexual activity.
During the search, officers confiscated a computer file, titled "Hot Stuff," that purported to document sexual activity dating back to January 1988. The file lists the first names of four girls, the type of activity, the room where the act took place and the date.
Police said they also seized assorted sexually explicit photographs and videotapes, pornographic books and a .25-caliber handgun.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Susan Cohen said all but one of Friday's indictments stem from the abuse of four girls, who include the two sisters. The additional charge involves a fifth girl, not named in the indictments, who appears in some of the pornographic home videos, Cohen said.
The alleged abuse spans 15 years, dating from June 1978 to August 1993, and may have taken place in more than one state. Cohen said one of the girls was molested in Roanoke County and in Ohio, where Dallas' mother lives.
The charges fall into the following categories: two counts of rape, 30 counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor, 13 counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of carnal knowledge, one count of attempted carnal knowledge and six counts of producing sexually explicit visual material involving children.
Dallas could face 15 life sentences, Cohen said.
Police continue to investigate the possibility that there are more girls involved.
"It's always hard to say how many there might be," Cohen said. "We're talking about a long period of time. We're talking about people moving away. We're talking about people who might say, 'I don't want to inject myself into the middle of this.'''
Dallas' attorney, Charles Phillips, called the indictments "exaggerated overkill."
"I don't know how they could get 53 indictments out of what they originally said were four warrants," he said Friday evening.
Phillips said he plans to file a motion next week asking the court to suppress the videotapes at the trial.
"We really feel like a lot of the material that goes to the heart of their case was illegally seized," he said.
Dallas, a systems analyst in the accounting department of Norfolk Southern Corp., is being held without bail in Roanoke County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court June 20 for a bond hearing.
In other grand jury action Friday:
The four people arrested after a diamond heist and high-speed car chase April 18 were indicted on one count each of grand larceny.
Police say the four defendants - Vernon Ricardo Cooper, also known as Vincent Rinaldo Cooper; Leslie Milissa Gross, a.k.a. Lisa Chaunte Williams; Chanetia Audrea Prince, a.k.a. Deborah Sands; and Donald Parrish Smith - stole 14 diamond rings from Lemon's Jewelry.
The suspects all come from the Washington, D.C., area, and police have said they are investigating the possibility that they were involved in additional Roanoke Valley robberies.
The four were apprehended after a multivehicle chase across county-city lines. An off-duty rescue worker began the pursuit after his daughter noticed the store's clerk running after two men at Old Country Plaza in Southwest Roanoke County.
Police joined the chase and captured the suspects near the Wonju Street exit of the Roy L. Webber Highway.
All but two of the rings were recovered.
A 19-year-old Lynchburg man was charged with one count of distributing the "designer drug" Ecstasy, a stimulant and mild hallucinogen.
Christopher George Schrader was arrested in Roanoke County on Feb. 5 after police seized a vial containing a plastic bag with two off-white tablets and two tablet fragments.
Schrader is to appear in court Thursday.
by CNB