THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180410
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
A 26-year-old man who has told police he believes he is a vampire was arrested Wednesday and charged with sexually assaulting at least two teenage girls.
Police said the man, identified as Jon C. Bush, sometimes bit girls during initiation rituals for a fantasy role-playing game called ``Vampire, The Eternal Struggle.''
On Wednesday night, police said at least eight other victims have been identified and said there might be other girls - perhaps dozens - who have been assaulted but are afraid to come forward.
Detectives charged Bush, a heating and air-conditioning worker who lives with his mother in the 500 block of Grant Ave., with rapeand sodomy for alleged assaults against a 13-year old Virginia Beach girl and a 16-year-old Chesapeake girl.
Police launched their investigation Jan. 10 after the 13-year-old girl told relatives that she had been sexually assaulted.
Police said Bush often wore snap-on fangs, painted his face white and his lips and nails black and dressed in dark clothing.
He told investigators he was the leader of the game, which was played by youths allegedly recruited at several middle and high schools.
Commercially available, the game is similar to ``Dungeons and Dragons,'' in which participants assume fantasy identities.
Although graphic, it is designed to remain a game, Detective Don Rimer stressed Wednesday night. ``The game contains blood, death and suicide,'' Rimer said. ``But Bush elevated it to a lifestyle.''
Police had been looking for Bush for two days when a police officer saw his car illegally parked Wednesday in the Charlestown Lakes section of the city.
Police charge that Bush enticed boys from several schools in Virginia Beach and one in Chesapeake to take part.
The boys, in turn, were told to recruit young girls to join the game and to be inducted into what Bush called his ``family,'' police said.
Bush told police that his ``family'' at one time had as many as 30 members.
Investigators said members recruited students from Cox, First Colonial and Princess Anne high schools, Great Neck and Lynnhaven middle schools, and Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake.
Girls who wanted to join the ``family'' could choose among three initiation rites, according to Bush's statements to police. They could be bitten by Bush, or they could perform one of two prescribed sex acts with him, investigators said.
Police said the girls involved generally were between ages 13 and 16. The initiation rites led to the rape and sodomy charges against Bush, detectives said.
``At this point in the investigation there is no evidence to suggest that either of these victims were forced to consume blood,'' police spokesman Mike Carey said.
Investigators believe Bush and his followers began the game in June. They would gather weekly for an ``activity night,'' police said, during which they would dress like the characters whose roles they had assumed.
Police said each member was given a title, name, ``powers'' and tasks to perform. But the main task was to recruit new members.
The group, which apparently met at no common location, roamed the Oceanfront and area shopping malls on ``activity night,'' using its visibility to entice new participants.
Bush, who according to court records was convicted of grand larceny in December 1992, was charged with rape for his contact with the 16-year-old Chesapeake girl, police said. He also faces two sodomy counts involving the 13-year-old Virginia Beach girl, detectives said.
Police are looking for members of Bush's group who might have been sexually assaulted. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives Don Rimer or Gary Knowles at 427-4101.
KEYWORDS: VAMPIRE ARREST RAPE SEXUAL ASSAULT by CNB