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

DATE: SATURDAY, October 9, 1993                   TAG: 9310090199
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: KEOKUK, IOWA                                LENGTH: Short

IOWA SAYS VA. MAN FAILED TO REPORT DEATH

A Rockbridge County, Va., man is charged with failing to report an Iowa accident in which his passenger drowned.

Lee County authorities said they didn't know about the accident for three days and didn't discover the body of Charles Edward Johnson, 49, of Keokuk until Thursday.

Samuel Richard Rhodes, 37, of Natural Bridge, Va., was charged with leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in a death. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a fine of $5,000, the Lee County attorney's office said.

He was jailed on $5,000 bond, awaiting a preliminary hearing next Friday, said Bruce McDonald, an assistant county attorney.

McDonald declined comment Friday when asked if any explanation had been offered for the alleged failure to report the accident.

The Lee County sheriff's office said Rhodes lost control of a pickup truck on a road outside Keokuk near the Des Moines River about 4 p.m. Sunday. The truck went into the river.

Rhodes escaped and hitchhiked into Keokuk but didn't report the accident, the sheriff's office said.

Authorities said they found Johnson's body about 60 yards away from the submerged pickup.

- Associated Press

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB