THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100352
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Attorneys confirmed Tuesday that William S. Swoope, the man charged with receiving stolen property after he gave a stolen boat motor to Chesapeake police Capt. William L. Spruill, failed a polygraph test he was required to take as part of his plea agreement.
As a result, special prosecutor Kenneth A. Phillips said Tuesday that he wants the plea agreement overturned.
Swoope, 32, of the 2000 block of Old Greenbrier Circle in Chesapeake, pleaded guilty March 15 to receiving stolen property in an agreement that required Swoope to give a full report on the boat motor incident to Chesapeake police. He also promised to take a polygraph and testify against co-defendants.
Swoope's guilty plea to the felony would be reduced to a misdemeanor in one year, should the plea agreement stand.
Phillips contends that Swoope violated the plea agreement by failing the polygraph.
Moody E. Stallings Jr., Swoope's attorney, however, said the agreement did not stipulate that his client had to pass the test, only take it.
Capt. Spruill was reprimanded by police Chief Ian M. Shipley Jr. for initially failing to say from whom he received the boat motor, which was stolen from the Givens Corporation in Chesapeake in 1994.
Capt. Spruill was also accused after an internal affairs investigation of ``purposefully misleading'' investigators about the identity of the person who gave him the motor. According to the notice of charges against him, Spruill had told investigators that an ``elderly gentleman'' had given him the motor.
In his response to the charges, Spruill said investigators never asked who gave him the boat motor. Spruill also denied telling investigators about the ``elderly gentleman.''
Spruill has not filed a grievance to challenge the findings. by CNB