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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990                   TAG: 9004170286
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Southwest bureau
DATELINE: BECKLEY, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Short

EX-SUPERVISOR, MAYOR SENTENCED ON DRUG CHARGES

A man who once served in Virginia as mayor of Pocahontas and on the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors has been sentenced to 11 years in prison by a federal judge for operating a criminal drug enterprise.

Charles W. Gilmore, 60, said what he had done was inexcusable and he apologized to the people of Tazewell County. He pleaded guilty to the charge in December, but sentencing had been postponed several times.

Gilmore had been indicted on 16 drug-related charges. Federal prosecutors agreed to drop 15 of them in return for any information Gilmore could give them on drug trafficking and on three slayings in Pocahontas a year ago.

The victims were Robert L. Davis, 32; his wife, Una May Davis, 32; and the woman's 14-year old son by a previous marriage, Robert A. Hopewell Jr. All three were killed by 12-gauge shotgun blasts. A neighbor found their bodies April 16, 1989.

Samuel Ealy, 26, has been charged in the deaths. His trial is scheduled to start May 29 in Tazewell County Circuit Court.

U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Hallanan imposed the sentence on Gilmore last week. She also imposed a $50,000 fine.

by CNB