Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995 TAG: 9506150045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Robert W. Bess was charged with conspiring to sell marijuana, possessing marijuana on school grounds and possessing marijuana with intent to distribute.
Bess was not scheduled for trial on those felony charges until July. His appearance in court Wednesday was supposed to deal only with the state's confiscation of his 1973 Pontiac.
According to Salem Commonwealth's Attorney Fred King, the car was seized by the state because it was used in November to transport marijuana from Fort Chiswell to Salem.
"While we were there, we went ahead and concluded everything," said Bob Rider, Bess' attorney. "The evidence was sufficient to indicate guilt."
That evidence included 11/2 hours of secretly taped conversations between Bess and former Roanoke College student Eric Reich.
In the taped conversation, Bess and Reich discussed their involvement in a three-man drug ring, King said at a February preliminary hearing.
Bess' brother-in-law, Marty R. Stacy, is charged as the other co-conspirator. His trial is set for July.
Reich, who was a sophomore at the college, was arrested in November for possession of marijuana, Prozac and Valium with intent to distribute the drugs. Weeks after his arrest, he agreed to cooperate with police and named Bess and Stacy as his suppliers.
Bess, who advised freshmen and some sophomores and taught a writing course, no longer works for the college.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in September. King said that, based on sentencing guidelines, Bess should face about six months in jail.
by CNB