ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
Roanoke County police are seeking information about a man who is wanted on several warrants for thefts similar to those that occurred recently at Bonsack United Methodist Church.
Police spokesman Tom Kincaid said Martin D. Freeman, 47, is the subject of about a dozen warrants in at least three Roanoke Valley communities.
Roanoke County is seeking his arrest on charges of credit-card fraud and possession of a stolen credit card. Those charges are not related to the church thefts.
At least three churches in Roanoke and Roanoke County have reported in recent weeks that someone slipped into their buildings during services and stole pocketbooks, money and credit cards from choir rooms and offices.
An automatic teller machine card taken from a victim at the Bonsack church has been used at a Roanoke Valley bank since the theft, Kincaid said. The criminal was able to use the card because the personal identification number necessary to activate it also was in the stolen purse.
Kincaid said Freeman is not yet a suspect in any of the most recent church thefts, but he is wanted in another jurisdiction in connection with a similar incident in which property was taken from a church during services.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Roanoke County Police Department at 561-8036.
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of Freemanby CNB