The Franklin News-Post
P. O. Box 250
310 Main Street, SW
Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151
540-483-5113
Fax: 540-483-8013
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
By KEN BRADLEY - Staff Writer
A Wirtz man and a Montgomery County man pleaded guilty Tuesday in Franklin County Circuit Court to breaking and entering, larceny and destruction of property in a series of burglaries in the county, which started in July 2008.
Curtis Eugene Sparks Jr., 24, of Montgomery County pleaded guilty to charges of grand larceny, petit larceny, breaking and entering, and possession of marijuana.
Sparks will serve three years and 30 days on the charges, but the remainder of the 144-year prison sentence was suspended as part of a plea agreement.
Sparks had been indicted earlier on seven counts of breaking and entering, three counts of grand larceny, one count of petit larceny and three counts of damaging private property.
Joshua McLane Salb, 19, of Wirtz, who was indicted on the same charges as Sparks, will serve one year in prison.
Sparks and Salb were ordered to make restitution of more than $4,000 each to the owners of homes they burglarized. Each man was also sentenced to five years probation.
From July to December 2008, an estimated $7,000 worth of cash and firearms was taken from homes in Henry, Ferrum, Fork Mountain, Sydnorsville and Boones Mill, according to Lt. Steve McGuire with the Franklin County's Sheriff Department.
With little evidence at each scene, investigators focused on the similar characteristics of each burglary, which led them to believe the cases were related, McGuire said.
Investigator Rick Toney contacted the Botetourt County Sheriff's Department about similar cases. During interviews with Sparks and Salb, who were incarcerated in Botetourt County on breaking and entering and grand larceny charges in that jurisdiction, the two men confessed to committing burglaries in Franklin County. |
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