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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990                   TAG: 9004170384
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                LENGTH: Short

MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO EXTORTION ATTEMPT

A Detroit man charged with trying to get money from the mother of a missing 5-year-old Lorton girl pleaded guilty Monday to extortion charges in U.S. District Court.

Emmett Grier III, 20, told Judge Claude Hilton that he "did a bad thing" in trying to get Tammy Brannen to pay him and an accomplice $75,000 for information on her daughter Melissa's whereabouts.

Grier then asked to be incarcerated immediately. Hilton set a sentencing date for June 22 and could order the defendant to remain in jail for a maximum of 60 years and fine him $1.25 million.

The girl, who was last seen at a Christmas party near her home on Dec. 3, remains missing.

- Associated Press

by CNB