ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1996 TAG: 9610280071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
Crime-spree suspect seen in Oklahoma
BRISTOL - A man suspected of killing one woman in Virginia and one in Tennessee was spotted near his mother's home in Oklahoma this week, police said.
Brad Osborne, 27, was seen in a bar Tuesday night in Fort Smith, Ark., just across the Arkansas River from Roland, Okla., said investigator Roger Fuller of the Sequoyah County, Okla., Sheriff's Department.
``The witness said he made some threats there,'' Fuller said. ``I think it was him, and I think he's definitely still in the area.''
Osborne reportedly used a knife to cut his hair while at the bar and mentioned having ``some business to take care of'' in another town west of Roland.
Fuller said a car stolen from Elizabethton, Tenn., was found in Sequoyah County. Investigators impounded the vehicle and searched it for evidence.
Osborne, a drifter who worked at carnivals, is suspected of killing a former girlfriend, 21-year-old Stacey Cook, in Virginia. Her body was found in a Washington County ravine earlier this month.
He also is suspected of killing 46-year-old Donetta Keyser of Mount Juliet, Tenn., outside a coin laundry two days after Cook's body was found.
Police believe Osborne attacked several other women during the same period, including wounding a former girlfriend at an Abingdon, Va., motel and abducting another woman from a Bristol, Tenn., coin laundry and raping her.
Osborne's case will be the subject of a Nov. 9 broadcast on Fox television's ``America's Most Wanted.''
- Associated Press
Woman convicted of intimidation
NORFOLK - A woman who confronted a drug trial witness with a string of obscenities for testifying against her son has been convicted of witness intimidation.
Alleyne Reed Wright, 63, of James City County is herself awaiting trial, along with another son and her boyfriend, on charges of operating a drug distribution ring in the Williamsburg area.
She was convicted Thursday of intimidating a witness in a related trial last summer. Her son Ernest S. Wright and three other men were found guilty of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine.
During the U.S. District Court trial, Wright confronted a woman who had just testified. She called the woman several obscene names and told her, ``You could have said you didn't know nothing.''
Wright faces up to 10 years in prison on the intimidation conviction. She faces up to life in prison if convicted of conspiracy to distribute drugs.
- Associated Press
Officer guilty of double-dipping
RICHMOND - Annette Linda Roberts, a 13-year veteran of the state police, admitted she worked 170 hours at a grocery store at the same time she was getting paid as a narcotics investigator.
A Henrico County judge found Roberts, 37, guilty Thursday of stealing $2,900 in state funds.
``I don't believe it was a scheme'' to defraud state police, Circuit Judge George Tidey said. But he said Roberts took advantage of her situation.
Roberts testified that her supervisor was aware of her second job, which she said she took during slow times between investigations.
But her supervisor, Assistant Special Agent Stephen Berry, testified that he suggested she spend her time visiting local police departments to build a working relationship with other narcotics officers.
Berry denied telling Roberts that she didn't have to come to work if she didn't have anything to do.
Prosecutors said Roberts worked simultaneously for a grocery store and state police during portions of 57 days between March 29, 1994, and Oct. 18, 1995.
Tidey set sentencing for Jan. 22. Prosecutors said they would ask for restitution but have not decided whether to seek jail time.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB