ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 12, 1996 TAG: 9604120084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
A sentencing hearing was held Thursday for the first of five young adults who have pleaded guilty to breaking into a Bedford veterinary hospital to steal ketamine, a cat tranquilizer and popular street drug.
Bedford County Circuit Judge William Sweeney took a charge of breaking and entering against Amy Leia Cleary, 19, of Roanoke under advisement for a year. He put Cleary on probation and ordered her to complete 250 hours of community service and undergo drug counseling. Cleary could have received up to 20 years in prison.
In January, Cleary and four others pleaded guilty to charges in break-ins at the hospital. Shera Young Surface, 18, of Roanoke pleaded guilty to one count of breaking and entering and one count of grand larceny. James Leslie Giddens, 19, of Roanoke pleaded guilty to two counts of breaking and entering.
Eric Ross Garland, 18, of Roanoke, and Chad Rudolph Honaker, 22, of Montvale each pleaded guilty to a single count of breaking and entering.
Cleary, Giddens and Garland were arrested in September when neighbors reported a break-in at the Bedford County Animal Hospital on Virginia 122. Bedford police stopped Cleary's car as it was leaving the hospital and found animal tranquilizers and other drugs from the animal hospital inside the car.
From confessions made after those arrests, investigators charged Giddens, Honaker, and Surface in connection with an Aug. 29 burglary at the hospital.
Ketamine, a white crystalline powder that drug abusers ingest by sniffing, has become increasingly popular in dance clubs along the East Coast for its hallucinogenic qualities.
Possessing ketamine is not a felony under state or federal law. In Roanoke, selling it is a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and up to a $1,200 fine.
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB