ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 13, 1996 TAG: 9612130045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
A former Virginia Tech football player and a Blacksburg woman were found guilty Thursday of shoplifting merchandise valued at nearly $200 from the University Bookstore on the Tech campus.
Brian Buttram, University Bookstore manager, testified that he saw Walter Ford pay $2 for nearly $200 worth of merchandise.
Ford, a former wide receiver for Tech, was dismissed from the football team after Tech police arrested him Oct. 7 on a shoplifting charge.
Thursday, Ford pleaded not guilty and testified he gave the cashier $200, not $2, for the merchandise.
Blacksburg General District Judge J.T. Frith found Ford guilty despite his claim. He fined Ford $300 and sentenced him to serve 20 days of a 60-day sentence in jail.
Charlotte Champaco, 19, was the cashier Oct. 3 when Ford came through her line. When she finished the transaction, the receipt she handed Ford showed a total of 78 cents, according to evidence at the trial.
Virginia Tech police also charged her with shoplifting. Frith also found her guilty Thursday and sentenced her to the same jail sentence as Ford and fined her $200.
Both Champaco and Ford are appealing the verdicts to Montgomery County Circuit Court, according to their attorneys.
Ford, a 20-year-old junior from Hampton, testified that he did not know the cashier undercharged him for the Virginia Tech caps, sweat shirts and stickers he bought. He said he handed the cashier $200 and received a receipt and $75 in change.
The receipt, which was presented in court, had three charges on it: 20 cents, 50 cents and five cents. The total with tax: 78 cents. Buttram testified that he verified the actual prices and the receipt total should have been $190.
Buttram testified Thursday that he noticed Champaco ringing up the items for 20 cents and 50 cents as he walked by the register. He said he saw Ford hand over $2 and get change from Champaco.
Champaco, who was an acquaintance of Ford's, told the judge she knew she had made a big mistake, but repeatedly denied that she purposefully undercharged Ford. She shrugged her shoulders when asked to explain how the items got rung up incorrectly if she did not do it on purpose. She said the transaction was not planned and said she couldn't explain the 78-cent receipt.
Officer V.M. Houston of the Tech police testified that he interviewed both Ford and Champaco at the bookstore after the incident. He said Champaco and Ford both said they realized she had charged him pennies for the more than $190 worth of merchandise.
Ford, however, denied this in court. He said he never knew anything was wrong until the store manager stopped him at the door and asked for his receipt.
Champaco, who is not a student, never wavered from her story that Ford gave her just a few dollars for the merchandise.
Since October, she said, people have blamed her for Ford's dismissal from the team. She also had a taped interview with Tech coach Frank Beamer about the case, she testified.
After Beamer suspended Ford, the former played asked the head coach to reconsider, Beamer said Thursday in a telephone interview. Beamer said Champaco came to campus at Ford's request to talk to him about the incident.
Beamer said he tapes all interviews that involve his players. He said he did not go to the Tech police to see what they knew about Champaco, who had already been interviewed by Houston, because he was trying to get to the bottom of the situation himself.
Thomas Kratman, Ford's attorney, said he believes Ford is innocent and is sorry Tech will miss Ford from its team until the charge is straightened out. Ford was in his first year at Tech after transferring from a Kansas community college. He played sparingly in the Hokies' first four games and had one pass reception for 12 yards and five punt returns for 84 yards.
Kratman was also fined by the judge after an outburst during the trial. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Schwab had asked Ford on cross-examination if he were a liar and Champaco a thief. Kratman, upset with the question, slammed his papers on the judge's bench and shouted a word of profanity.
Frith ordered Kratman to leave the courtroom until he could calm down. The judge later charged Kratman with contempt of court and fined him $50.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Ford.by CNB