THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, January 26, 1995             TAG: 9501260390
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT                      LENGTH: Short :   49 lines

FORMER POLICE OFFICER CHARGED IN BURGLARY, VANDALISM

A former Newport News police officer has been charged in the burglary of an Isle of Wight home in which more than $8,000 in guns were taken and more than $15,000 in vandalism was done.

Isle of Wight Sheriff's detective C.B. Nurney said Richard A. Davis, 39, of Hopkins Court in Poquoson, was arrested about 4:10 p.m. Tuesday in Newport News.

Isle of Wight police have charged Davis with breaking and entering, grand larceny of firearms, attempted arson and destroying private property in connection with the Oct. 19 burglary of the Powhatan Lee Meade home on Robin Lane.

York County Sheriff's deputies found eight of the stolen guns at Davis' Poquoson home on Jan. 19 when they served him with a search warrant on an unrelated matter.

Nurney said Davis and another person are believed to have kicked in the back door of the Meade home about 5 p.m. Oct. 19, while the Meades were on vacation. About 13 guns were taken.

``The house was trashed. There was extensive water damage,'' Nurney said. ``Drains from a bathroom sink and upstairs tub were plugged, and water was left running. The water ran through the ceiling and down into the lower floor.''

In addition to the Isle of Wight charges, Nurney said, Davis was arrested Thursday by York County Sheriff's deputies and charged with taking a credit card from a mailbox in the southern part of York County and using it to withdraw money from an automated teller machine in Poquoson.

During a search of Davis' home, police found more than 20 handguns, shotguns and hunting rifles, including the eight registered to Meade, Nurney said.

In July 1986, Davis was sentenced to two years in prison, with all time suspended except 20 days, on a grand larceny conviction. He was placed on probation for one year, Nurney said.

Davis left the Newport News Police Department about 10 years ago, police officials said.

Davis was being held Wednesday in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail on a $15,000 bond.

KEYWORDS: BURGLARY VANDALISM GUNS FIREARMS by CNB