Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510250070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
One of the suspects is from Montgomery County. City police began the surveillance after an officer spotted a car that had been mentioned in a Teletype message from Randolph County Sheriff's Office in Wedowee, Ala. The car was at a west Radford apartment complex.
Jonny Butler, deputy Radford police chief, said about eight officers set up a watch outside the apartment for several hours.
"We were led to believe that they were very heavily armed and desperate," Butler said.
At midmorning, after other occupants of the apartments had left, the two were placed under arrest without incident, he said.
Reese A. Newman, 25, of Old Pike Road in Pilot, and Rickie L. Putnam, 41, of Wedowee were charged with being fugitives from justice.
Alabama authorities have charged the two with armed robbery, kidnapping and sexual abuse stemming from a Monday incident in Randolph County, Ala.
Investigator Wayne Waldrep of the Randolph County Sheriff's Office said two men knocked on a woman's door, asking for help because they said their car was stuck near her house. When she let them in to use the telephone, they allegedly robbed and assaulted her and held her at knife- and gunpoint.
Police said the 48-year-old woman was thrown to the floor and tied, then her blouse was torn open and her pants pulled down. She then was led to her bedroom, where she said threats were made to sodomize her, but she was not molested, Waldrep said.
The men allegedly took several items from the house, including shotguns, rifles, a camcorder and all the change from a nearly full five-gallon jug.
Waldrep said the woman knew Putnam because he had worked for her husband. She identified Newman as the man who held a knife to her throat and said Putnam had a gun.
Police quoted the woman as saying she was forced to drive the two men to their vehicle, where Putnam returned $10 of $110 that had been stolen from her wallet, warned her not to tell authorities, and freed her, Waldrep said. She went to her daughter's house and called authorities.
Waldrep said he will pick up the two men and return them to Alabama.
by CNB