THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 26, 1996 TAG: 9609260299
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 62 lines
A former Virginia Beach police officer received a five-year suspended sentence Wednesday after pleading guilty to burglary and grand larceny charges for a break-in last May at a car-stero store.
Gregory M. Vick, 33, of the 1300 block of Pine Cone Circle, was given three years for the burglary and one year for the grand larceny. The crimes occurred while Vick was on the force.
Vick was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr., who also sentenced Vick to an additional year for another grand larceny to which Vick had pleaded guilty.
Hanson suspended all of the jail time, but ordered Vick to pay $2,927 in restitution to the Auto Sound Security Warehouse in the 1300 block of London Bridge Road.
That's where Vick took $3,597 in car audio equipment May 11, prosecutor Ken Dodl said during the sentencing hearing Wednesday.
Dodl said Vick broke into the car-stero store on the evening of May 11 by entering through a front window.
Vick apparently cut electrical and telephone lines leading into the store before breaking the front window, allegedly to disconnect any alarm system that might alert police.
But a security camera at a nearby business, Big Jim's Cycle Barn, videotaped the scene outside the audio store, capturing a clear picture of Vick's red Ford Mustang.
Jim Grote, owner of the Cycle Barn, said he reviewed the tape and notified police. Although the security camera captured only Vick's automobile, that was enough for police to identify Vick, Grote said.
``As soon as they looked at the tape, they knew who it was,'' Grote said.
Search warrants were obtained for the car, Dodl said, and when investigators searched the car they recovered two pieces of the missing stereo equipment. One had its serial number scratched off, and the other had a serial number that matched one of the stolen pieces, Dodl said.
Before the break-in, Vick had been assigned to an administrative post by the Virginia Beach Police Department because of another grand larceny charge last year.
In that case, Vick allegedly outfitted his car with custom parts removed from an identical car his girlfriend had taken for a test drive into Virginia Beach from Kimnach Ford in Norfolk, according to investigators and court records. He was arrested and charged with that crime on Aug. 24, 1995.
After the Norfolk arrest, Vick was assigned to the Virginia Beach Police Department's Crime Reporting Unit, where some criminal reports, such as property thefts, are taken.
After his arrest in May, Vick was suspended without pay, police spokesman Lou Thurston said.
Thurston said Wednesday that Vick no longer worked for the department, but he would not say if he was fired or if he resigned. The matter involved police personnel, he said, and such information could not be released.
Vick had received seven letters of appreciation and one letter of recognition during his police career. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Gregory M. Vick, 33, was sentenced Wednesday by Circuit Court Judge
Edward W. Hanson Jr.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE OFFICER ARREST BURGLARY
CONVICTION SENTENCING by CNB