Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 16, 1995 TAG: 9508160092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Donald Parrish Smith faces up to 20 years in prison for one count of grand larceny, and up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine for a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge. He is to be sentenced Sept. 28, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach.
Smith is one of four robbers who stole 14 diamond rings from a Southwest Roanoke County jewelry store April 18. Vincent Rinaldo Cooper, Leslie Melissa Gross and Deborah Sands, all of Washington, D.C., also were arrested in the theft. Each was charged with grand larceny.
The child of a rescue worker thwarted the escape when she saw a clerk from Lemon's Jewelry chasing Smith and Cooper at the Old Country Plaza shopping center. The two men got into a car in which two women were waiting, according to police reports.
The rescue worker and his daughter called police, then followed the getaway car. Smith, who was driving the car, hit another motorist during the chase. Police picked up the chase on Roy L. Webber Highway. The suspects were arrested near the Wonju Street exit.
Cooper pleaded guilty this month as part of an agreement with the Roanoke County commonwealth attorney's office. He is serving three years in prison and agreed to pay Lemon's one-fourth of the cost of the two rings that never were recovered - $466.20.
The two women are scheduled for trial this month.
Smith remained in Roanoke County Jail on Tuesday.
by CNB