ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
A U.S. Postal employee has been accused of tormenting women who lived on his Southeast Roanoke mail route. He faces a string of charges that include assault, stalking, making obscene telephone calls and burglary with the intent to commit rape.
The most serious charge alleges that Anthony Tyler Jefferson, 36, broke into a Piedmont Street home the night of July 30 with the intent to rape a woman to whom he had delivered mail.
After Jefferson was charged with that offense last month, authorities sought additional misdemeanor indictments Monday from a grand jury in Roanoke Circuit Court. The grand jury charged Jefferson with assault, five counts of making threatening and obscene telephone calls, and two counts of stalking. The stalking charges involve repeated telephone calls.
Five women - all of whom lived on Jefferson's mail route - reported receiving obscene telephone calls in July and August.
The caller referred to personal details about the women, such as what kind of car they drove or what hours they were normally home, before making indecent comments during the calls, according to Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony.
``From the content of the calls, you could tell that the person was watchful,'' Anthony said.
Most of the calls were made after July 30, the date that Jefferson is accused of breaking into a sixth woman's home on Piedmont Street. The woman told police that she awoke that night to find an intruder, who fled when she recognized him.
The grand jury indictments also allege that Jefferson assaulted a seventh woman on his mail route sometime between June 26 and Sept. 14. No additional information was available Monday on that charge.
Jefferson has been placed on ``non-duty status without pay'' pending an investigation, according to Roanoke Postmaster Billy Martin.
A letter to Jefferson from the U.S. Postal Service, filed in Roanoke Circuit Court, states the reason for his off-duty status: ``There is reasonable cause to believe your retention on duty may result in injury to yourself.''
Jefferson, of Rustburg in Campbell County, could not be reached for comment Monday. He was free on a $5,000 bond for the burglary charge and a $1,200 bond for the misdemeanors. His attorney, Richard Lawrence of Roanoke, could not be reached either.
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