ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040024
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
A former accountant for Virginia Tech faces six felony charges of embezzling from the university's veterinary college while employed there.
A Montgomery County grand jury returned the indictments against Freddie H. McCormick, 29, of Route 1, Pearisburg, on Tuesday afternoon.
McCormick is accused of embezzling money between July 1, 1991, and Feb. 11, 1995, while serving as an accountant.
The indictments accuse him of misusing or misappropriating money belonging to the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.
Dave Nutter, a Tech spokesman, said McCormick is accused of embezzling $35,789.
Problems that led to McCormick's arrest were discovered by an internal audit, Nutter said.
McCormick worked for Tech from June 1989 until April 1995.
The six indictments for McCormick were among 97 returned by the grand jury.
Others indicted by the grand jury Tuesday included:
Patricia Jean Keister, a 25-year-old Montgomery County woman, accused of embezzling from, and writing unapproved checks on an account of the Blacksburg law firm that employed her.
Keister was a bookkeeper with Long & Long. The grand jury issued nine indictments Tuesday charging her with one count of embezzlement and eight counts of forging and uttering checks.
The indictments cover a period between February 1994 and Sept. 1, 1995, and involve more than $14,000.
The indictments allege she wrote eight checks, ranging from $1,087 to $2,591 payable to Discover credit card and to AT&T Credit. She is accused of signing Marc Long's name to the checks.
Three New River Valley men who are accused of the Sept. 26, 1995, robbery of a Blacksburg man.
Bryan S. Howell, 19, was robbed, forced to withdraw money at the National Bank of Blacksburg ATM at Hethwood, then assaulted and released several minutes later on nearby Merrimac Road in Montgomery County.
Steven Danille Taylor, 20, of Pulaski, was indicted on charges of robbery, abduction and two counts of using a firearm.
Kasheem Travis Martin, 19, of Blacksburg, and Michael Alvin Carter, 19, of Radford, each face a felony charge of robbery.
nMark Anthony Lilly, one of three people facing capital murder charges for the December shooting death of a Virginia Tech student. Lilly was indicted on unrelated charges of breaking into a Montgomery County home in August and stealing a .45-caliber handgun worth $200 or more.
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