THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510290083
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
A daughter of Williamsburg Pottery Factory founder James E. Maloney has been charged with extorting $6 million from her 83-year-old father, police said.
Joan Maloney-Schultz was arrested about 10 a.m. Friday at a Crestar Bank near Williamsburg when she arrived to pick up the money, said James City County police Capt. Ken Middlebrook. Middlebrook wouldn't say what the alleged blackmail was about.
Middlebrook said the matter has been under investigation since Maloney reported a threat to police Sept. 25.
``Jimmy and his wife are extremely upset about this turn of events. They hope doctors and other authorities can arrive at a good solution. And he expresses his love for Joan,'' a source close to the family told the Daily Press of Newport News.
Maloney-Schultz, 52, of Williamsburg, was released on $5,000 bail, Middlebrook said.
``My lawyer will not allow me to talk,'' she said Friday night. She said she would issue a statement later.
If convicted of extortion, Maloney-Schultz would face a maximum of 10 years in prison, the prosecutor's office said.
Maloney's famous bargain mecca, on 200 acres outside Williamsburg, is estimated to have taken in $60 million to $80 million in sales last year. It attracts several million visitors a year, at least triple the number of people who come to Colonial Williamsburg.
The story of Maloney's Pottery Factory is a classic rags-to-riches tale. Maloney was born and raised in Newport News, the son of a frequently laid-off shipyard worker. He graduated from high school during the Great Depression.
Unable to find a paying job, he milked cows on a James City County dairy farm in return for bed and board. But he spent many of his evenings learning the pottery trade by lantern light at a nearby pottery business.
Maloney stayed three years before the business went under. Then he left to start a pottery of his own in Charlottesville, where he met his wife Gloria.
The couple returned to James City County in 1938, bought a half-acre off Route 60 for $150 and built a kiln, an outhouse and a shop with attached living quarters.
For a long time, they sold nothing but the pots they made, driving as far as Baltimore in an old pickup to hawk their wares.
Then a customer found that he didn't have enough room on his truck for both Maloney's pots and a load of imperfect Ohio china.
The Maloneys got it cheap. People bought it. And an idea was born. That decision provided the foundation for a business in which pottery is now a tiny percentage of the revenue.
Today, the Pottery carries thousands of items, from dried flowers and plaster angels to clothes and Elvis Presley memorabilia.
Maloney-Schultz was a Pottery vice president and import buyer for 20 years until she retired in 1983.
She described herself a few years ago as ``a professional volunteer,'' involved with a large number of organizations.
Gloria Maloney died in March 1993, and her husband remarried that August, according to a family friend. by CNB