THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501200253
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, VIRGINIAN-PILOT/LEDGER-STAR
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
For a year, they broke into several cars a night, taking up to $1,000 worth of stereo equipment. Sometimes they'd even go back and steal the hot stereos from the people they had sold them to.
But that wasn't the only way the two adults and three juveniles disproved the adage about honor among thieves.
After police caught one juvenile, ``everybody else started pretty much telling on each other,'' said Detective David S. Dempsey of the larceny squad.
``People were calling me and asking me, `Can I testify and get myself out of trouble?' '' he said.
Two of the adults, Bobby Michael Bruner, 24, of the 1000 block of Hodges Ferry Road, and James C. Sanderlin Jr., 21, of the 4200 block of Race St., were arraigned Tuesday.
Bruner was charged with three counts of grand larceny. Sanderlin was indicted on three counts of receiving stolen property.
A third adult was arraigned Jan. 10. James Johnson, 18, of the 6400 block of Portsmouth Blvd., was charged with three counts of grand larceny. Johnson faces two more counts of grand larceny, Dempsey said.
Among the three juveniles is a 17-year-old of the first block of Bolling Road. Charged with one count of grand larceny, he has not yet been tried.
The other two - a 17-year-old who lives in the 6500 block of Portsmouth Blvd. and an 18-year-old who was 17 at the time of the offense - were tried and convicted Jan. 11. The 17-year-old was convicted of possession of stolen property and the 18-year-old was convicted of one count of grand larceny. Both are awaiting sentencing.
For two years, Dempsey worked in uniform patrol in the same area of the city where most of the larcenies from the autos were concentrated - Park Manor and Hodges Ferry.
``I know just about everybody out there,'' Dempsey said. ``I have a good rapport with a lot of the juveniles out there, and they basically told me who was doing what.'' Not one, however, would agree to testify.
Then in October, Dempsey was made a detective in the larceny squad, which enabled him to focus more attention on the crime spree.
``I finally got one juvenile that admitted that he helped them, and since I didn't have anything else on anybody, I went ahead and told him . . . that we wouldn't charge him in return for his testimony,'' Dempsey said.
That was Nov. 16. Within days, Dempsey was able to file charges against the others.
``When one guy broke, the rest of them did,'' said Dempsey. ``Everybody started turning on each other, trying to get their own selves out of trouble.''
Though the thefts were heavily concentrated in Portsmouth, they carried over into the Dock Landing, Deep Creek and Great Bridge sections of Chesapeake. Dempsey is currently working with the Chesapeake police on the case.
``There are little groups that broke off and are still doing it, and we're still working on them,'' Dempsey said. ``But the reports really slowed down when I put the main three in jail.
``They wouldn't steal anything like Sears brand or anything like that,'' Dempsey said. ``They know stereo equipment. They've been in it for Lord knows how long, and it's easy to get rid of.'' And because owners often don't record serial numbers, the equipment is difficult to trace.
The vandals would use a spring-loaded punch to break glass quietly, then unlock the vehicles. After removing the stereo equipment, they would meet at one central location and call the buyer.
``What they would do was steal like an average of $800 to $1,000 a night,'' Dempsey said. ``They would break in to about five cars. Every morning, I would get five reports from the previous night.''
Of the $10,000 worth of equipment stolen that Dempsey can attribute to the ring of six, $6,800 of it has been recovered.
``There's a ton of reports that I've got that I can't link them to,'' Dempsey said. ``I hate to say, but maybe one in 10, one in 12, they're caught on . . . if that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
David S. Dempsey
Larceny detective
KEYWORDS: ROBBERY THEFT by CNB