
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 30, 1990                   TAG: 9003300522
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: DALLAS                                LENGTH: Short

RACKETEERING FUGITIVES CAPTURED, HELD IN TEXAS

A Virginia couple sought for two years on felony charges involving the collapse of one of the nation's largest second-mortgage lenders were held without bond Thursday after their capture here.

William R. Runnells Jr. and his wife, Marika Lody Runnells, appeared before U.S. Magistrate John B. Tolle, who confirmed their identity and ordered them held at Lew Sterrett Justice Center pending their return to Virginia.

No plea was entered.

"They've been living here in Dallas, apparently, since October," FBI spokesman Woody Specht said. "They lived in California some place, and they got some information that there was going to be a lot of information about them on `Unsolved Mysteries.' "

Specht said the FBI has been conducting a national search for the couple. The 49-year-old Runnells was indicted in 1988 on 24 felony charges involving the financial collapse of Landbank Equity Corp. in Norfolk. Marika Runnells was indicted on similar charges. - Associated Press

by CNB