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Felony (Larceny /Malicious wounding)

• Former Henrico County Coach Sentenced in Sex Abuse Case
  Feb 21, 2010

  Former J.R. Tucker High School football coach William Macgregor "Mac" Leighton was sentenced by an Henrico County Circuit Judge to prison in connection with his prior guilty pleas to sexual conduct of two female students who were 15 and 17 years old at the time.

  Leighton's conduct may have been "an extraordinary aberration," his past "impeccable," and like all teachers and coaches he may have been "overworked and underpaid," said Circuit Judge L.A. Harris Jr. But Leighton's role as a teacher and coach meant he "shared a special trust."

  "What we have in this case is a blatant violation of that trust," Harris said.

  The stern judge, gazing on the weeping former football coach, sentenced Leighton to 15 years in prison, suspending all but 21 months on three felony convictions of taking indecent liberties with the two Tucker students.

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• Missing Tech Student's Death Ruled Homicide
  Feb 03, 2010

  The chief medical examiner's office in Virginia has determined that Morgan Harrington's death was a homicide.

  The office said yesterday that it has no further information on how the 20-year-old Virginia Tech student was killed.

  Harrington disappeared Oct. 17 from a Metallica concert she was attending at the University of Virginia. Her remains were found Jan. 26 on an Albemarle County farm about 10 miles south of where she was last seen.

  In the months after her disappearance, hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials searched the surrounding area. Investigators said they had not searched the hayfield where the remains were found by the property owner.

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• Stepfather Charged in Shooting Death of Chesterfield Teen
  Feb 03, 2010

  A Chesterfield County man charged early yesterday in the fatal shooting of his stepson during a family dispute had been involved in a confrontation with the teen last year, police said.

  Peter Simpson, 55, was charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of Devon Mason, 19.

  Police said the teen was shot when he tried to separate his mother from her husband, Simpson, during a clash inside the family's home.

  Chesterfield police Capt. Terry Patterson said the gun belonged to Simpson.

  The family lives in the 7800 block of Flag Tail Drive in the Triple Crown subdivision off Hull Street Road, a short distance from Clover Hill High School. Mason was a 2008 graduate of Manchester High School, a school spokesman confirmed.

  Last spring, police were called to the home for an altercation between Simpson and Mason, but "apparently whatever took place was mutual" and neither was charged, Patterson said.

  "There wasn't probable cause for the officers to arrest anyone," Patterson said. "So both were advised of the [legal] action they could take. Apparently neither chose to take any action against the other."

  Patterson said Mason had lived in the home with his mother and Simpson for some time.

  In addition to murder, Patterson was charged with felonious use of a firearm and domestic assault. He was to have been arraigned on those charges yesterday afternoon, but a mix-up caused the hearing to be postponed until this morning.

  The killing was Chesterfield's first homicide of the year. The county ended 2009 with only two slayings, its lowest count since 1988.

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• Taco Loco -- Woman Stabs Husband to Death After Argument
  Jan 19, 2010

  Police said Emma Jaime stabbed her husband, Ramone Jaime, in the heart at their home on New Year's Day following an argument at mealtime over tacos.  At her preliminary hearing on Friday, it was revealed that just before the stabbing, the couple had been arguing about tacos.

  Prosecutors said Emma Jaime dumped soda on her husband's tacos and then ran upstairs. When Emma Jaime came down the stairs, she found Ramone Jaime washing dishes, and that is when she stabbed him, prosecutors said.

  Both Raymond and Emma Jaime were correctional officers at Salinas Valley State Prison, and had been married for six months. They moved into their home two months ago.

  Emma Jaime was ordered to stand trial on murder charges.

   

   

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• Four Virginia Teens Get 12 Years in Statutory Rape
  Jan 15, 2010

  Henrico Circuit Judge Gary A. Hicks sentenced  four teenagers to the same prison terms yesterday -- 12 years with all but two years suspended -- in connection with an incident last February in which a 12-year-old had sex with each of them. At the time of the incident, the defendants were 17 and 18 years old.

  The Assistant Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney  trying the case had asked for sentences exceeding the high end of Virginia Sentencing Guidelines of about 15 years in prison,  but declined comment about the victim after a 90-minute hearing yesterday that took place in a courtroom filled with families of the defendants but not the victim.

  Evidence in the case showed that during a party Feb. 8, a shed was outfitted with a mattress and sheets behind one defendant's home. The sexual acts occurred there, as each of the four teens had intercourse with the girl. There was no testimony yesterday that the girl objected to her involvement with the defendants. Virginia law presumes that a child younger than 13 does not have the mental capacity to consensually engage in sexual activity.
  
  Judge Hicks gave no explanation of his decision regarding the sentences imposed yesterday, which will require each of the teenagers to register as sexual offenders; the low end of sentencing guidelines for an active sentence was generally in the four-year range.

  The sentences prompted a relative of one of the defendants to burst out cursing as he left the courtroom, prompting Hicks to recall the man and sentence him to 10 days in jail for contempt.

  He was handcuffed and taken to jail.

   

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• Louisa County Investigation Continues in Death of VCU Student
  Jan 07, 2010

  Louisa County Investigators are calling Kristan Charlene Fox's death suspicious as they continue an investigation into her death but say it doesn't appear to be a homicide. They are awaiting toxicology testing and trying to establish a timeline of her movements from phone records and video surveillance in the Zion Crossroads area.

  Fox, a doctoral candidate at VCU, also taught an introductory course in criminal justice at VCU, was pronounced dead about 5:40 p.m. New Year's Eve at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville.

  Two men who knew Fox took her to the hospital the previous day, arriving shortly before 1 a.m., said Louisa sheriff's Detective Jeff Sims.

  The two men told hospital employees they found Fox lying behind a McDonald's restaurant at 11445 James Madison Highway off Interstate 64 near Zion Crossroads (exit 136). The men also say they picked Fox up there after she called and asked them to do so, Sims said.

  "We just have to see if that's really what happened," Sims said.

  Sims added that Fox was seen in the Richmond area the evening of Dec. 29, the day before she turned up at the hospital.

  Sims said Fox's body had no outward signs of trauma.

   

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• Felon in Possession of Firearm Conviction Results in 15 Year Federal Prison Sentence
  Jan 05, 2010

  Federal prosecutors are waging war against convicted felons who are found in possession of firearms. AUnder federal and Virginia law, a person convicted of a felony is barred from possessing any firearm -- whether it be a rifle, shotgun or pistol. The penalties for violation of the law are harsh. This recent case illustrates how tough they can be.
  
  Thurman Wyatt, 30, of Madison, Wis., was sentenced this month by Wisconsin U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb to 188 months in federal prison for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. Wyatt pleaded guilty to this charge on November 5, 2009.

  On May 4, 2009, Wyatt and co-conspirator Reginald Ballard went to the Capitol Bank in Verona, Wis. Ballard went into the bank, robbed it at gunpoint and was arrested outside of the bank after a standoff with police officers.
  
  Wyatt was found in a car near the scene. In an interview with law enforcement agents, Wyatt admitted to possessing a firearm and giving it to Ballard before the bank robbery.
  
  During the sentencing hearing, Judge Crabb stated that Wyatt was a danger to the community and a lengthy sentence was necessary to protect the public.
  
  United States Attorney Sinnott praised the efforts of the bank employees and law enforcement agents involved in this investigation.
  
  Reginald Ballard was sentenced by Judge Crabb on October 28, 2009 to 11 years in prison for the bank robbery.

   

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• Man Pleads Guilty to Ponzi Scheme
  Jan 05, 2010

  A "Ponzi" or "Pyramid" scheme is one that entices people to "invest" in a financial venture with expectations or promises of higher returns than the amount invested. In reality, those returns are funded by contributions made by recent investors.
  
  When the pool of investors is less than necessary to pay off the earlier investors, the scheme usually crumbles because more money is going out than coming in and people who invested later, lose their money instead of making more of it. 
  
  This is what has happened to Social Security for instance, and that is why you read and hear on the news that Social Secutrity is -- or will soon be -- BROKE.
  
  Although the federal government runs the world's largest Ponzi game -- Social Security -- for good reason it is illegal in every state for private citizens to operate one. It is a violation of federal fraud laws to run a Ponzi or Pyramid scheme by mail or telecommunication, or across state lines. This is what happened to a South Carolina man who undertook to make a buck like the guys in Washington do.
  
  Oren Eugene Sullivan, age 63, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, pled guilty in federal court to mail fraud in connection with his operation of a Ponzi scheme. Senior United States District Judge Matthew J. Perry accepted the plea and will sentence Sullivan at a later date.

  Sullivan admitted that from 1995 through 2008, he ran the Ponzi scheme in which he sold false investments to 35 different individuals or groups of investors. Sullivan told clients that he was managing their investment accounts, and paid small dividends to his investors. However, he was actually converting their invested money for his own use, and paying the dividends with money he received from new investors. Over the course of the scheme, Sullivan took in approximately $2.5 million dollars from unwitting investors.

  Sullivan’s scheme was detected by an investor, who reported him to authorities.

  The maximum penalty is a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment for 20 years.

  This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

   

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• Richmond Homicide Total for Year Hits 39 With Shooting Death in Gilpin Court
  Jan 01, 2010

  Richmond police today identified the victim in a shooting last night at the Gilpin Court public housing complex.

  Police said Reginale N. Lee, 19, whose last known address is the 2300 block of Ambrose Street, was found dead in the 1000 block of St. James Street. His was the 39th homicide in Richmond in 2009.

  At 10:19 p.m., officers patrolling the area heard a gunshot and found Lee within one minute, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

  Detectives are in the early stages of their investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 780-1000. 

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• No Bomb Found, But Anonymous Tip Leads to Trespassing Charge Against 22 Year Old in Richmond
  Dec 30, 2009

  Richmond police filed a trespassing charge against a man apprehended last night at Bryan Park after police got a tip that he might be headed there with an explosive device.

  Anthony Stanley, 22, of the 2200 block of Oakwood Lane in Henrico County, was charged with trespassing because he is accused of being in the park in North Richmond after it closed at sunset, said police spokeswoman Karla E. Peters.

  No explosive device was found on Stanley or in the park, Peters said.

  Authorities found Stanley shortly before 9 p.m. after a search involving about two dozen officers from three police agencies, police dogs and an airplane.

  The incident stemmed from a tip Henrico County police received about 6:15 p.m. stating that a man had said he was planning to blow up something and that he might have a homemade bomb in his pocket, Henrico police said.

  County authorities notified city police that the man might be at Bryan Park.

  City and Henrico police and state police stationed themselves around Bryan Park and troopers patrolled nearby Interstates 95 and 64.

  Stanley was taken into custody after he was found on the park's perimeter

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