ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
A Salem man convicted of burglarizing 15 homes in the Roanoke Valley in a little more than a month will serve more than 20 years in prison.
Coleman Archibald Stigall III, 35, was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years and eight months in prison at a joint sentencing between Salem and Roanoke County prosecutors in Roanoke County Circuit Court. He faced a total of 20 charges in both jurisdictions for grand larceny and breaking and entering.
Stigall already had been sentenced to nine years in prison for the houses he burglarized in Roanoke city's jurisdiction.
His sentences will run consecutively.
Salem Commonwealth's Attorney Fred King and Roanoke County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mark Claytor noted Stigall's long criminal history, including drug convictions in Texas and drug and burglary convictions in Florida.
Prosecutors outlined victim-impact reports in which Stigall's victims said they no longer felt secure in their own homes.
One of the victims woke up in her bedroom and saw Stigall going through her belongings, according to Stigall's testimony and a pre-sentence report.
Another victim testified in court that about $30,000 worth of jewelry was stolen from her home while she was away. Even her rosary beads were stolen, she said.
Stigall is said to have stolen more than $100,000 in merchandise from the 15 Roanoke Valley homes between May 1 and June 1, 1995.
But Stigall's attorneys, Jonathan Apgar and David Lawrence, tried to paint a different picture of the man Roanoke prosecutors have nicknamed "Steal it all Stigall."
Stigall testified that he started abusing drugs at age 15. He began with marijuana and then started abusing prescription drugs and both powder and crack cocaine.
The stealing was done only to support his drug addictions, he said.
And although Stigall has been convicted in three states, some on drug charges, he has never gone through a drug rehabilitation program, his attorneys noted.
A Tampa, Fla., judge ordered Stigall to go through drug rehabilitation, but it was never carried out, Lawrence said.
Since October, he has attended voluntary rehabilitative sessions offered by the Roanoke County/Salem jail. Those sessions may be available to him in prison, Lawrence said.
Stigall's attorneys pleaded with the court to send him to Roanoke's Hegira House, an inpatient rehabilitation program.
However, Judge Roy B. Willett did not believe drug rehabilitation would be effective at this point in Stigall's life. He sentenced Stigall to 40 years in prison, suspended after he served 11 years and eight months.
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