Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 6, 1993 TAG: 9308060056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The suspects had taken care of that.
Police say three teen-agers made a video catalog of the stolen equipment in hopes of selling it to their friends.
It was a real-life version of "Homeboy Shopping Network," a comedy skit on Fox Television's "In Living Color" in which two thieves parody the Home Shopping Network.
Except police had the last laugh.
The video catalog helped authorities charge the juveniles with burglarizing 40 automobiles around the Roanoke Valley.
The juveniles, who have not been identified because of their age, have pleaded no contest to multiple charges and are to be sentenced Aug. 18 in Roanoke County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Detective Tim Carroll of the Salem Police Department broke the car-burglary ring in March when he went to question a Roanoke teen about one of the thefts.
The juvenile allowed Carroll to search his apartment and garage, which contained a cache of stolen tape decks, speakers and cellular phones.
Police officers discovered the incriminating videotape inside a camcorder that had been stolen from a car a few nights earlier.
"We popped the tape in and, lo and behold, there they were," Carroll said.
A two-minute segment showed the suspects holding up various stolen car stereos and explaining the features of each item. One suspect later told Carroll that they had planned to show the tape to friends, who could pick out what they wanted to buy.
"I guess they were making their own Garage Shopping Network," Carroll said.
by CNB