Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 2, 1994 TAG: 9404040178
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
A Montgomery County grand jury Friday handed up indictments that accuse Gary O'Neal Shanks, 30, of East Main Street, Christiansburg, with robbing the A&J Quick Shop on North Main Street on June 15.
The charges were sought by Detective D.K. Goodman of the Blacksburg Police Department after Shanks called the Police Department to confess three weeks ago. He was not a suspect before his call, Goodman said.
Shanks also called this newspaper leaving word he wanted to confess to the robbery.
"He called up my secretary and told her he wanted to confess to something ... " Goodman said Friday. "They got hold of me and I went to talk to him at the [Montgomery County] jail and he confessed to the crime."
Goodman said that while he's taken confessions before, having someone call him from the jail to admit to something is unusual.
"No, I think that would be a first," the detective said.
The robbery indictment alleges that Shanks robbed clerk Michelle Neff of $90 belonging to the store. Three related indictments accuse Shanks of wearing a mask to conceal his identity, possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony and using a firearm in commission of a robbery after being convicted of using a firearm to commit a murder.
Shanks was 15 and known as Gary Lee Reed in August 1979 when he was charged with killing 17-year-old Edward Charles Disney after forcing Disney to give him and another teen-ager a ride away from Deadwood Days, the downtown Blacksburg festival now known as Steppin' Out.
In April 1980, Shanks was sentenced to 56 years in prison for Disney's abduction and murder and grand larceny of Disney's car. He was released on discretionary parole April 1,1993, after serving less than 13 years. He is on supervised parole through 2003 and was released into the custody of his adoptive parents.
Shanks is being held in the Montgomery County Jail pending a parole violation hearing, apparently for several traffic offenses last year that began just hours after his parole and continued through November.
Court records indicate Shanks obtained a driver's license April 1, the same day he was released from prison. On April 2, he was charged with failing to stop for a red light.
That began a series of driving offenses which included:
nA driving-under-the-influence charge entered five days later when a state trooper stopped Shanks on Jennelle Road near Blacksburg. A month later, Shanks pleaded guilty in Montgomery County General District Court and received a suspended 30-day jail sentence and fine . His operator's license was restricted for 12 months.
A charge of driving suspended entered on May 22, 1993. Last June 9, he pleaded guilty and was fined $100, given a 10-day suspended jail sentence and his license was suspended for 30 days.
Also last June, a judge reimposed the $300 fine for the DUI conviction after Shanks failed to meet the terms of the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program, a driver education program that allows motorists to keep a restricted license, because he was convicted for driving on a restricted license outside the hours allowed. His license was suspended for 12 months.
In November, Shanks pleaded guilty to driving on a suspended license on Oct. 12, 1993.
He was fined $100, given four days to serve in jail, and his driver's license was suspended an additional 60 days.
A supervisor with the Virginia Department of Parole's community affairs division said Shanks' case has been referred to the Parole Board for review.
When Shanks was sentenced as a teen-ager, he wrote in his confession: "I don't like to get into trouble. It just seems like I always do."
by CNB