Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990 TAG: 9005300224
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
U.S. Magistrate Glen Conrad set $50,000 surety bonds for Catherine Ford, 29, and Todd Wesley Green, 25, at a hearing in U.S. Magistrate Court in Roanoke. The two have been charged with possessing and intending to distribute 111 grams of crack cocaine with a street value of $13,000.
Ford - a licensed cosmetologist currently out of work - and Green - who testified that he owned his own furrier business - initially were arrested on state drug charges. Their cases were turned over to federal authorities because Green was carrying altered $50 bills at the time of his arrest.
The bills at first were thought to be authentic money but after examination by the U.S. Secret Service, were deemed counterfeit, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant.
The bills were sliced lengthwise and retaped to other bills whose serial numbers did not match. Bondurant said altered bills are not uncommon, but had no idea why anyone would alter counterfeit bills.
Ford, whose identity has not been verified by authorities, faces a mandatory 10 years to life without possibility of parole.
Green - who has two prior convictions, one drug-related - faces a mandatory life sentence or a mandatory 20 years to life without possibility of parole.
Authorities have not determined whether Green's prior criminal record includes two felony convictions or one felony and one misdemeanor. If his record shows two felony convictions, Green faces a mandatory life sentence. If it shows one felony and one misdemeanor, Green faces a mandatory 20 years to life.
The bonds carry numerous conditions, including submitting to regular urinalysis. Although Green testified that he did not use drugs, Ford testified that she was an "occasional" user of cocaine and marijuana.
At a probation officer's request, Green will be placed in a halfway house while out on bond. Green's sister-in-law had asked that he be allowed to live with her in the Lincoln Terrace housing project.
Conrad agreed to the request that he live elsewhere because of "exposure that might result," he said.
by CNB