THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 24, 1997 TAG: 9701240544
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 30 lines
Police caught a 22-year-old man sleeping in a vacant Magic Hollow home late Wednesday and charged him in a series of recent burglaries that have plagued residents in the northern portion of the neighborhood.
However, the man has not been charged in the Jan. 12 break-in that escalated into the sexual assaults of a mother and daughter who returned while a burglar was in their home. Police said Thursday they were scheduling a time to show those victims a photo line-up. If the arrested suspect is picked as the attacker, he will be charged with the additional crimes, police said.
The arrested suspect identified himself as Jeff Lawrence Ward, but police were checking to see whether that was his real name. He gave no address. Police said he was found sleeping in the attic of a vacant home that is for sale.
Ward was charged with five counts of burglary, police said.
Since Jan. 7, police have been investigating a series of similar break-ins in a three-block area of Magic Hollow, near Bamberg Place. Members of the department's 1st Precinct Truancy Abatement Burglary Suppression Unit, or TABS, have been cooperating with sex-crimes detectives in the investigation. They said the investigation will continue. MEMO: TO HELP
Anyone with information about the suspect or the crimes is asked to
call 427-0000.