Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509070054
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Blacksburg Police Department has been been investigating the thefts - concentrated in College Park, Hunter's Ridge, Terrace View and Pheasant Run - since early July.
This week, police charged Michael Lee Lang, 19, of University Trailer Park with two counts of grand larceny.
Grand larceny petitions also have been obtained against three juveniles who are believed to be involved in the majority of the thefts, said Detective G.C. Richardson.
About two dozen cars have been broken into since the students began returning to town in mid-July, Richardson said.
Lang and the three juveniles live in the general area of the thefts, police said.
During the investigation, police recovered numerous pieces of car audio equipment.
A search warrant filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court indicates that a CB radio, speakers, a compact disc player and CDs, cassette decks and two T-shirts were seized from Lang's residence.
In all, about 20 T-shirts emblazoned with the words "I survived the Boston Massacre, September 7, 1995" were recovered.
"A lot of the stuff was recovered from several different locations," Richardson said.
According to the search warrant, people were seen with the stolen T-shirts within four days of the more-recent Aug. 21 and 22 thefts.
Lang was arraigned on the grand larceny charges Wednesday. He has been in the Montgomery County Jail in lieu of a $10,000 bond since last week, when police charged him with statutory rape, an offense unrelated to the car thefts.
Police said the charge involved an investigation of a report of nonforcible intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. The incident, which happened at the girl's northeast Blacksburg home, was reported by the girl's mother.
by CNB