THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 31, 1995 TAG: 9508310428
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
A woman who used tape-recorded conversations to bring about the resignation of Vice Mayor Arthur L. Dwyer in April found herself in legal hot water Wednesday - also because of a tape.
Prosecutors in General District Court played a tape of Sandra R. Lewis cursing and threatening Michael S. Green. Lewis accused Green, who recorded the call, of harassing her mother and stealing her dog because her brother allegedly owed Green money.
Judge Colon H. Whitehurst delayed ruling on the charge against Lewis: using threatening, obscene or vulgar language on the telephone. He took the case under advisement and told Lewis that if she had any contact with the man between now and December, she could be convicted and jailed.
If convicted on the single charge against her, Lewis could receive up to 12 months in jail, a $2,500 fine or both.
On the tape, Lewis told Green, ``You're going to find yourself in the f------ James River.'' Lewis' mother also was talking on the line as the two argued.
Lewis also called Green various names.
After Green told Lewis he was taping the conversation and was going to the police, Lewis told her mother, ``He ain't going to be able to tell nobody s---.''
Green, formerly of the 2400 block of Payne Road, charged that Lewis was attempting to intimidate or harass him during the June 9 conversation.
In turn, Lewis, 30, of the 100 block of Waterfront Drive, filed two similar charges against Green for two phone calls she allegedly received on June 15 and 17. On a tape played in court, Green called Lewis ``poor white trash.''
``This is all pure fabrication,'' Green said. ``I called 911 because I was threatened.''
Green, who now lives in Virginia Beach, said he had been harassed out of his home by Lewis, who has a history that includes twice shooting her husband.
Whitehurst on Wednesday dismissed the two charges against Green.
In February and March, Lewis secretly recorded telephone conversations between her and Dwyer, then vice mayor.
Dwyer resigned after allegations that he pressured Lewis to have sex in exchange for getting health benefits for her husband, former Sgt. Ed Lewis, a 24-year veteran of the Chesapeake Police Department who was terminated for lying about a domestic dispute. Dwyer denied any wrongdoing.
In those taped conversations and in a series of messages left by Dwyer, he begged to see Lewis and tried to start a romantic relationship as he negotiated with top city officials for a $65,000 health insurance policy for the Lewis family.
It was the first time the city had granted the benefits to a fired employee, or to an employee below the 65-year-old age minimum.
The bending of those rules led to charges that Dwyer pressured the city manager to violate the city's policy in order to satisfy Lewis' demands.
A state police investigation in April found no wrongdoing on Dwyer's part, according to City Councilman John E. Allen and Commonwealth's Attorney David L. Williams.
City Manager James W. Rein quietly withdrew Lewis' benefits after Dwyer resigned.
Dwyer, in other parts of his conversations with Lewis, shared with Lewis secrets about the inner workings of city politics, bragged about close ties to a developer's agent and derided his colleagues on the council. ILLUSTRATION: Sandra Lewis was warned Wednesday by Chesapeake Judge Colon H.
Whitehurst that she could be convicted and jailed.
by CNB