ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
note: above
WHEN ANTHONY AUSTIN caught someone burglarizing his Northwest Roanoke home, where his parents were sleeping, he and they took action.
For Anthony Austin, it was a case of deja vu.
Three weeks ago, during the wee hours of the morning, he caught a burglar trying to jimmy the side door of his Northwest Roanoke house. The burglar ran away, and Austin went to bed.
Early Thursday, Austin caught sight of another burglar. This one already had slipped into Austin's Woodleigh Road house and was preparing to steal a bagload of his belongings.
That is, until Austin foiled the job.
When Austin returned from breakfast at the Omelet Shop in Salem about 3:20 a.m., he opened the door to his basement room to see a man neatly packing away his compact discs. The man had stacked a CD player, a telephone and a video-game system on Austin's bed.
``I saw somebody stealing stuff I worked 50 to 60 hours a week for, and I wasn't going to let him go,'' said the 20-year-old, who works at Hardee's on Peters Creek Road. ``That, and that someone could come in the house with my parents asleep ... that person has to be put away.''
The burglar had been able to break into the Austins' house - probably by prying open the basement door - without waking anyone. Even Bear, the Austins' Labrador mix, didn't bark.
``She won't hurt anybody,'' Anthony Austin's mother, Susan Austin, said of the dog. ``That's the problem.''
When the burglar tried to run, Anthony Austin wrestled him to the ground. The man pleaded to be let go, saying he had problems. He kept saying, ``You better let me go, my people are coming,'' Austin said.
The commotion awakened Susan and Gene Austin. He grabbed his .22-caliber gun while she called police.
The scuffle spilled into the Austins' back yard. The man broke free, and Gene Austin fired a warning shot into the air, Anthony Austin said. But the man kept running, with Anthony Austin in pursuit.
Several police officers stopped the suspect running down Woodleigh Road.
Andre James Hester, 38, of the 4500 block of Melrose Avenue Northwest, was charged with breaking and entering and grand larceny.
Hester has refused to speak with police, said Sgt. Don Walker, who heads the Police Department's burglary squad.
Police said the burglary at the Austins' was similar to at least two other recent ones in the city. In each, the burglar broke in while the residents were home.
The Austins had a feeling something like this eventually would happen. They say their neighborhood has been plagued by break-ins over the past year. Police said there has been some criminal activity on Woodleigh Road and its environs, but no marked increase in burglaries.
Citywide, burglaries have decreased, said Maj. Don Shields. Nearly three years ago, Roanoke averaged about 200 burglaries a month. That figure has dropped to about 70 a month.
If there is an increase in burglaries, they are not being reported to police, Walker said. The Austins said they didn't report the first burglary attempt at their home.
Hester remained in Roanoke City Jail on Thursday in lieu of a $10,000 bond. And one question still nagged Anthony Austin.
``I'd like to know how he opened my dresser drawers so quietly,'' he said. ``I can't even do that.''
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB