ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER note: below
A BANKRUPTCY REPORT says the Franklin County antiques dealer owes $6 million to 50 creditors.
There's at least one person still willing to lend Clyde Bryant money.
Bond for the flamboyant Franklin County antiques dealer was set at $50,000 Wednesday by General District Judge George Jones. A friend, who wasn't identified, came forward to post it, said Bryant's lawyer, Harvey Lutins of Roanoke.
Bryant faces three grand larceny charges. He also has been sued by several people who claim he owes them millions of dollars in unpaid loans.
Bryant, who arrived in court wearing blue county jail fatigues, with a chain binding his ankles, said he will live for the time being with his mother, Lois, at her home in Roanoke County.
He said he's not a risk to flee, even though he was wanted on a federal fugitive warrant from more than a month before he turned himself in to FBI agents in Roanoke last week.
He said he had no idea about the warrant until he contacted his mother July 15 and she told him about a newspaper story detailing his troubles.
"I'm not going to harm anyone," Bryant told Jones. "I'm going to work. I've got obligations I've got to meet."
Bryant didn't specify what obligations he was talking about, but he has several to attend to, according to creditors and court documents.
Three people have filed grand larceny charges against him: Warner Dalhouse, the retired chairman of First Union National Bank of Virginia; Andy Gehrken, a Martinsville doctor; and Julie Ann Heinrich, a resident of Fincastle.
The charges involve antique furniture given to Bryant to sell on consignment.
According to the civil lawsuits filed in Franklin and Henry counties and the city of Martinsville, Bryant owes more than $1 million to some well-known people in the region, including William Pannill of the Pannill Knitting family of Martinsville.
Bryant, 51, also gave an explanation Wednesday for why he left Franklin County.
In April, he said, creditors showed up at his antiques shop on U.S. 220 near Rocky Mount and "closed me down so I couldn't operate."
Bryant - who had spent a lot of time at casinos in Atlantic City in the previous few months, according to friends - said his business failure made him "tremendously anxious and stressed out."
So he climbed into his GMC Suburban four-wheel-drive and drove to Texas to get some rest and to visit one of his closest friends, Andrew Brunson, an Emory & Henry College buddy, he said.
After staying for about a month in Texas, Bryant said, he called another friend in Hayesville, N.C. When that friend invited him to visit, he said, he decided to make his way back to the East Coast but stopped off several times, including a stay in Biloxi, Miss.
In Hayesville, Bryant said, he got a job at a golf course run by a former Martinsville resident.
"I worked right out in front of everybody every day," he said.
Bryant said he kept in contact with his mother, who has cancer, and his wife, Wanda, letting them know his whereabouts.
Lois Bryant, who testified Wednesday, said that while her son did call, investigators didn't.
"It would seem, if they were interested [in apprehending him], they would have contacted me," she said.
Later, she said she considers Clyde Bryant to be dependable and trustworthy.
However, prosecutor Cliff Hapgood painted a different picture.
"There are two Clyde Bryants," he said to Jones. "You're seeing the good and the smooth one today."
Hapgood peppered Bryant - a convicted felon who spent time in the Franklin County jail for selling cocaine in the early 1980s - with questions about how much he knew before and after he left Franklin County in April.
About the time Bryant departed, his wife filed for bankruptcy. The filing showed more than $6 million in debts to 50 creditors.
According to court documents, Wanda Bryant signed her power of attorney over to her husband last year and says she was unaware of most of the debts.
She did not attend Wednesday's hearing.
Hapgood asked Clyde Bryant if he was concerned at all about leaving Wanda behind to deal with the problems.
Bryant said he was providing support to his wife.
"By phone from Biloxi, Mississippi?" Hapgood countered.
At times Wednesday, Bryant's testimony wasn't consistent.
When asked if he recently told a prospective witness "to keep his mouth shut," Bryant said, "I don't know that I said that."
When the question was rephrased and asked again, his reply was: "I may have said that, but I didn't mention the authorities."
Hapgood recommended no bond for Bryant but said if it were granted, it should be $100,000 or higher.
Jones set the $50,000 amount and said nothing else.
Bryant thanked Jones and walked over to hug his mother.
A federal investigation of Bryant continues.
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