ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, April 23, 1996                TAG: 9604230107
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER

CHARGES FILED IN BREAK-IN TO DEAD STUDENT'S ROOM

Five Radford University students have been charged with breaking into the Peery Hall dormitory room of Valerie Cole, the student who died from alcohol poisoning in February.

The break-in occurred later the same day, Feb. 10, when Cole was found dead in the room by two of her friends who were visiting Radford. Police had locked the dormitory room after the initial on-scene investigation into her death, said Capt. Gary Harmon.

Jewelry was taken from the room, Harmon said, but none of the five suspects are charged with larceny. Two of the suspects lived in the same dormitory.

Peery Hall resident Anthony P. Somers, 19, of Carmel, Ind., is charged in the breaking and entering. The other students are charged as accessories. They are:

* Brent T. Reckert, 21, of Round Hill.

* Peery Hall resident Christopher P. Green, 20, of Fredericksburg.

* Joseph B. Rogers, 20, of Owings Mill, Md.

* Gina M. Roppolo, 19, of Herndon.

Meanwhile, the Radford Police Department and the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department have been conducting an investigation into the off-campus activities leading up to Cole's death. Further misdemeanor charges concerning alcohol and other criminal violations are expected, a news release said. Harmon would not elaborate on those charges.

Cole, an 18-year-old freshman from Manassas, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.31 percent when she died, more than three times the legal standard of intoxication. Cole had been drinking at two fraternity parties the night of her death.

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