ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608050064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
RICHMOND - A state trooper was charged with theft and reckless driving after police said he stole a woman's purse from her car outside a tavern and then sped away in an unmarked police car.
Mark E. Brooks, 43, of Colonial Heights, was arrested Wednesday night, said state police Lt. Len Terry. Brooks, a trooper for 14 years, was on duty at the time but was out of his assigned Chesterfield County area, Terry said.
A Hanover County deputy sheriff saw a man get out of his vehicle and enter another in the tavern's parking lot about 10:15 p.m. The deputy saw the man speed off as the woman came out of the tavern and discovered her purse was missing.
Brooks was released on a personal recognizance bond pending an appearance Sept. 18 in General District Court. He was suspended without pay pending the outcome of the case. - Associated Press Police harvest $60,000 pot patch on Potomac
STAFFORD - The growers of 30 marijuana plants on a patch overlooking the Potomac River in Stafford County probably were planning to harvest the plants soon.
Sheriff's deputies beat them to it Friday, confiscating the 6-foot to 11-foot plants. Police estimated their street value at $60,000.
Authorities had spotted the pot patch earlier in the summer and let the plants grow while they determined who was tending them, Lt. John Ashby said. Detectives have identified suspects but have made no arrests. The owner of the land is not a suspect, he said. - Associated Press Suicide shot barely misses officer in siege
FREDERICKSBURG - A man police thought had fired at them apparently shot himself as officers surrounded his Spotsylvania County trailer.
Deputies were called to Lance Wolf's trailer in Partlow about 3 p.m. Thursday after neighbors complained he was standing in his yard, apparently drunk, firing a rifle.
When officers arrived, Wolf was in the trailer. They called for him to come out. A shot fired from inside the trailer barely missed one officer. Reinforcements were called and about 30 officers surrounded the trailer.
Capt. Pat Sullins of the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office said officers then fired tear gas into the trailer. When the gas cleared and officers were able to enter the trailer, they found Wolf sitting near the front door with the rifle in his lap.
Sullins said Wolf had shot himself in the head with the rifle, and it was that shot that nearly hit the officer. - Associated Press Lawyer says woman unaware of drugs in car
RICHMOND - The attorney for a woman found sleeping in a car that had $2.5million in cocaine in the trunk says the vehicle was illegally searched.
``I don't think she had the wherewithal to give a voluntary and valid consent'' to a search of the car, attorney Joseph D. Morrissey Jr. said Thursday. ``She got drunk, and I think that was to her benefit.''
Annette Kielhurn, a former New York Department of Corrections officer, was arrested Monday off Interstate 95 in Petersburg. She was charged with being drunk in public, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute it and transporting drugs into Virginia.
Morrissey said the woman didn't know she was transporting drugs. - Associated Press
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