Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 2, 1995 TAG: 9508020033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Vernon Ricardo Cooper will serve three years behind bars for his role in a Roanoke County jewelry store robbery and a car and foot chase through Roanoke and Roanoke County.
His guilty plea was part of a plea agreement struck with Roanoke County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach.
Cooper, also known as Vincent Rinaldo Cooper, was one of four people police arrested April 18 in a heist at Lemon's Jewelry. Leslie Melissa Gross, Deborah Sands and Donald Parrish Smith were the others arrested in the theft.
The suspects, all from the Washington, D.C., area, left the store with a tray containing 14 diamond rings, but the child of an off-duty rescue worker thwarted their escape.
The 11-year-old noticed the store's clerk chasing two men at Old Country Plaza in Southwest Roanoke County. She and her father saw the two get into a car in which, police said, Sands and Gross were waiting. The rescue worker and his daughter called police.
Police apprehended the suspects near the Wonju Street exit of the Roy L. Webber Highway.
Aided by dogs, police found 11 of the 14 stolen rings in the grass along Broadway Street. Another ring was found on the floorboard of the getaway car.
As part of his plea agreement, Cooper agreed to pay Lemon's one-fourth of the cost of the two missing rings - $466.20.
The other three suspects have August trial dates scheduled.
by CNB