BUT ALL BURGLAR TOOK WAS SOME PHONE CALLS

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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993                   TAG: 9304160115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
BUT ALL BURGLAR TOOK WAS SOME PHONE CALLS
When a chatty burglar broke into Daniel Bruce Perkins' apartment, the intruder apparently just wanted to use the phone.
While nothing was missing, the burglar made $2,728.62 in telephone calls - mostly to dial-for-sex services, Roanoke police said.
"I was shocked," Perkins said. "I was mad."
So mad was Perkins that he told police about the giant phone bill. During an investigation, Perkins' neighbors on Kenwood Boulevard Southeast told police they saw a man slithering in and out of a window at Perkins' apartment.
No arrest has been made, but the caller left behind in Perkins' apartment a bag containing personal papers. He contacted Perkins and the owner of the apartment, offering to pay the bill if they would not press charges - an offer on which he still hasn't made good.
Perkins learned of the dial-for-sex charges after the woman who owns the apartment building and pays for the telephone received the bill. On it were calls between mid-February and mid-March. The number and length of the calls was unclear, but their price was high.
"I didn't make the phone calls," said the woman, who asked not to be identified. "I'm not responsible. It's like credit-card fraud."
While C&P Telephone has agreed to drop the 1-900 charges from her bill, the woman said she still could face attempts to collect from the 1-900 companies.
She, like Perkins, was hoping the burglar would fulfill his promise by paying the charges, but neither had received any money by the day agreed upon: April Fool's Day.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB