Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 7, 1995 TAG: 9510090058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PORTSMOUTH - A grand jury has indicted a former high school track coach on charges of secretly making videotapes of students changing clothes in the girls' locker rooms.
Seventeen of the 24 indictments handed up Thursday against John W. Crute include felony counts of production of sexually explicit material of minors. The Portsmouth Circuit Court indictments also include 39 misdemeanor charges of unlawful filming of a minor at Wilson High School.
Crute, 45, allegedly videotaped the girls over several years through a hole in the wall of a storage room adjacent to a locker room. He was arrested after police discovered the video camera.
One of the 24 girls named in the charges filed a lawsuit Sept. 27 against Crute and two school officials. It seeks $2 million in damages from Crute, $500,000 from Portsmouth school Superintendent Richard Trumble, and $500,000 from Wilson Athletic Director David Willett.
The lawsuit claims that Trumble and Willett should have examined the school and discovered the camera and the hole through which the videotapes were made. The lawsuit also claims the two men failed to properly supervise Crute.
- Associated Press
Sussex supervisor pleads guilty to DUI
SUSSEX - A county supervisor has received a 90-day suspended jail sentence and had his driver's license suspended after he pleaded guilty to drunken-driving charges.
Circuit Judge Robert O'Hara on Wednesday also fined James Belshan $500 and ordered him to perform 50 hours of community service. Belshan, 49, will be allowed to drive during certain periods of the day.
Belshan was arrested March 3 for driving under the influence. His breath test showed an alcohol content twice the legal limit, according to records.
He was convicted in Sussex County General District Court on May 22 of second-offense DUI from the March 3 incident, but his attorney immediately appealed the decision to Circuit Court.
The case was supposed to be reheard Wednesday, but Belshan was allowed instead to plead guilty to a first offense of the crime.
Belshan is running for re-election next month.
- Associated Press
Man held in slaying of sister's boyfriend
SHENANDOAH - A Page County man has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of a Staunton man, authorities said.
Page County Sheriff E.M. Sedwick said Aaron S. Dean, 21, was being held Thursday in the Page County Jail in Luray on $100,000 bond.
He is accused of killing Neil D. Michau, 25, in an altercation early Wednesday in Shenandoah.
Page County investigator Jay Jenkins said Michau had been dating Dean's sister, Dana Lynn Conley. The disagreement took place in her apartment.
Jenkins said Michau was killed with an 11-inch-long butcher knife. He was taken to Page Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
- Associated Press
Virginians help in Opal rescue effort
NEWPORT NEWS - A 62-member urban search and rescue team from Tidewater has been sent to help victims of Hurricane Opal.
The crew left Wednesday night, taking $2 million worth of equipment in two tractor-trailer trucks, said Virginia Beach fire official Mike Wade. The equipment includes listening devices for people who may be caught in collapsed buildings, search cameras and tools for cutting concrete.
The firefighters went to Camp Shelby, Miss., to await the storm's passage.
Crew members are drawn from fire departments in Chesapeake, Franklin, James City County, Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Members of the state Department of Emergency Services also are on the team, Wade said.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB