ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 5, 1997 TAG: 9704070084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON THE ROANOKE TIMES
The facility has decided to install a metal detector as additional security.
Three juveniles from Franklin County face charges stemming from a disturbance inside the W.W. Moore Detention Home in Danville on Wednesday.
All three boys are charged with attempted escape from a correctional facility, and two are charged with possession of a gun, said Maj. B.C. Elliott of the Danville Police Department.
One of the juveniles somehow managed to smuggle a .25-caliber pistol into the detention home. The gun was used to take hostages during the fracas, which started early Wednesday morning and ended a short time later when a W.W. Moore employee managed to grab the pistol.
The gun fired once during the takeover, a source said, but no one was injured.
An investigation is under way to try to determine how the 16-year-old was able to get the gun into the detention center.
Franklin County Sheriff W.Q. "Quint" Overton said his office is conducting its own investigation.
Overton said the boy, after being found guilty of auto theft, was sentenced to a home-monitoring program. However, he left the state and deputies had to go to Ohio to bring him back.
The boy had a court hearing in Franklin County and was held for a short time in the county jail - which is not equipped to house juveniles - before being taken to W.W. Moore.
Overton said he doesn't think the boy got the gun while inside the county jail. No employee of the sheriff's office carries a .25-caliber handgun, the sheriff said.
"But if he did get it here, we certainly want to know how it happened," he said.
The three juveniles have been transferred to other detention facilities. One was sent to Richmond, another to Alexandria and the third to Rockbridge County, Overton said.
They will be brought back to Danville to face the charges filed against them this week. The other two juveniles also are 16 years old. One is charged with arson and the other was sent to W.W. Moore after violating his probation, Overton said.
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office had a hard time finding a place for the juveniles to stay, especially when the circumstances of the situation were explained, Overton said. Only six jails in the state are capable of handling juveniles, and the handful of detention homes stay overcrowded.
Jimmy Rosenbaum, W.W. Moore's director, said overcrowding did not lead to Wednesday's disturbance, although 45 juveniles were inside the 30-bed facility.
Rosenbaum wouldn't comment on the investigation of the incident, but did say the juvenile home will install a metal detector as an additional security measure.
Juveniles are patted down when they enter and leave the facility, but strip searches are not permitted, Elliott said.
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