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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 12, 1990                   TAG: 9006120364
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VICTORIA                                LENGTH: Medium

TOWN TURNED AWAY RAPIST, HAS NO REGRETS

Thomas Wayne Lambert, the object of the town's inhospitable reception in 1988, is behind bars again after being convicted in Richmond of aggravated sexual battery. He is in the Richmond City Jail awaiting a June 21 sentencing.

The jury that convicted Lambert on May 10 recommended a 10-year prison term.

Lambert was released from prison in 1987 after serving 12 years of a 40-year sentence for rape. He wanted to move to Victoria to live with Sonny and Shirley Skillman, a couple who had befriended him while he was in prison, but the Virginia Parole Board would not allow it.

The Skillmans later were divorced, and Lambert and Shirley Skillman were married. He again asked that he be allowed to live in Victoria, where his wife owned a house. The request prompted a flood of opposition, led by Lunenburg County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Clement.

In interviews in 1988, Lambert and his wife said they just wanted a chance to live a normal life.

But Clement said at the time that Victoria residents had a right to shield themselves against the likelihood that Lambert would rape again.

Lambert's latest scrape with the law stemmed from an Oct. 19, 1989, attack on a 25-year-old Richmond woman. Richmond Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney James Wicker said Lambert originally was charged with abduction with intent to defile and aggravated sexual battery, but the first charge was not prosecuted.

The prosecutor said the victim's description of Lambert, including a description of his wedding ring and a class ring, aided in his capture.

Lambert did not return a telephone call placed to him at the jail last week, but his wife said Lambert is innocent.

But Clement insists that Victoria residents did the right thing in 1988, and he said that gives him a bittersweet feeling.

"It's regrettable that any woman from any locality had to be victimized by Lambert again, but our efforts to keep him out of Victoria clearly prevented him from raping or sexually assaulting a local woman or girl," Clement said.

He said Lambert's conviction in Richmond "was simply the bitter proof that he could not be rehabilitated and would always be a threat to women wherever he lived."