Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 8, 1990 TAG: 9005080449
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE SHENANDOAH BUREAU
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Morke already faced three counts of grand larceny and one of breaking and entering, making the total number of charges against him 106. He is scheduled for trial in Rockbridge County Circuit Court on May 16.
Attempts to contact Morke's attorney, William Cooper, were unsuccessful Monday.
Morke, an ex-convict and one-time legal aide to Lexington lawyer Laurence Mann, allegedly was seen breaking into a house on Jan. 26. "We just got lucky," said Capt. Ron Hall of the Rockbridge County Sheriff's Department.
Morke surrendered to sheriff's deputies the same day, after a high-speed chase in which he eluded his pursuers, then got stuck in mud beside the Maury River.
He made headlines again in February when divers found hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen jewelry in the river, near where his car had been stuck.
Morke helped lead the searchers to some of the jewelry, as well as to some stolen silver buried in a wooded area, deputies have said.
Morke, 34, has been in jail since his arrest, in part due to the revocation of his earlier parole.
On Monday a Rockbridge County grand jury returned a stack of indictments against him, alleging he had broken into many of Lexington's and the county's more affluent homes.
Some of the indictments - which cite alleged burglaries dating from spring 1989 through January - name only "jewelry" as the items taken. But others are more specific, listing diamond rings, pearls, a gold heart pendant, a Waterford crystal clock. Deputies have said nearly all the jewelry and silver have been recovered.
The indictments also list compact discs, whiskey, stereo speakers, prescription drugs and a pistol.
On one occasion, the indictments allege, Morke took two wood splitting wedges, a Coleman lantern and a rope.
A former college athlete and altar boy in his home state of Wisconsin, Morke was arrested in Buena Vista in 1983 while driving a stolen car, deputies have said.
He was represented by Mann on a breaking and entering charge there, then served prison time on various convictions in Wisconsin.
While in prison in Wisconsin, Morke established a reputation as a jailhouse lawyer, leading Mann to offer him a job upon his release.
"We and others had opened our hearts and our homes to this man, and the sense of betrayal and opportunity lost is devastating," Mann and his wife, Sally, said in a written statement in February.
In an interview after his arrest, Morke declined to discuss the burglary allegations.
by CNB