ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER
In unrelated cases, two Bedford County men were arrested over the weekend on charges of sexually molesting children.
Donald Wayne Welch, 50, of Moneta is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of forcible sodomy of a girl under the age of 13.
Paul J. Lawhorne, 43, also from Moneta, faces two counts of aggravated sexual battery and two counts of taking indecent liberties with a different girl, also under the age of 13.
Welch and Lawhorne were arrested as the result of investigations by the Bedford County Sheriff's Office and the Bedford County Department of Social Services, according to Lt. John McCane of the Sheriff's Office.
Welch was free on $5,000 bond. Lawhorne was being held in the Bedford County jail on $15,000 bond.
The two arrests followed a similar but unrelated case in Bedford on Friday, in which Charles Wayne Bartleson, 33, was charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, five counts of forcible sodomy and six counts of aggravated sexual battery.
Bedford Police Chief M.H. Graham said Bartleson, a Bedford resident, has been convicted of similar offenses in New Jersey.
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