Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 22, 1995                   TAG: 9511220086
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POLICE ARREST 2 MEN AFTER RAPES IN ROANOKE

A 23-year-old woman reported that she was raped about 1 a.m. Saturday in a wooded area in the 300 block of Campbell Avenue Southeast.

Police said the woman told them she met the man at a restaurant on Salem Avenue Southeast. The woman walked with the man to the wooded area, where he knocked her to the ground, called her racial slurs and hit her in the face. Police said he then raped her and fled.

The woman described her attacker in detail. On Monday, police arrested Martin Bernal, 25, whose address is unknown, and charged him with rape. Tuesday, he was in Roanoke City Jail on a $10,000 bond.

A 39-year-old woman told police Saturday that she had been raped the previous day. Police said the woman told them she was raped about 6:30 p.m. Friday at a Northeast Roanoke residence where she was staying.

The woman secured a warrant for Ralph Charles Thomas, 54, of Williamson Road Northeast shortly after the rape. He was arrested Saturday and remained in Roanoke City Jail on Tuesday on $2,500 bond.