AP
LEXINGTON, Va. (AP) _ A Lexington woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling from a church in Rockbridge County. Fifty-six-year-old Marilyn J. Dudley was accused of embezzling from the Collierstown Presbyterian Church from July 2002 through January of this year. Police say Dudley was in charge of the church’s memorial fund and the Presbyterian women’s account. The Roanoke Times (http://bit.ly/1rMg2yd) reports that Dudley pleaded guilty to two dozen embezzlement counts on Tuesday in Rockbridge County Circuit Court. Rockbridge County sheriff’s Deputy Tony McFadden testified that he calculated about $157,000 was taken from the church. He says church officials believe the amount is about $167,000. Dudley’s attorney, David Natkin, said the amount of missing money is still being tallied. He says she has paid $20,000 in restitution. Dudley is expected to be sentenced in December.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia State Police say 10 people died in traffic accidents over the four-day Labor Day weekend. That’s up from the nine fatalities recorded during the same holiday period in 2013. State police said Tuesday that four of the victims weren’t wearing seatbelts. Alcohol was a factor in at least two fatal wrecks The fatal crashes occurred in Accomack, Roanoke, Chesterfield, Henry, King George, Prince George, Rockbridge and Rockingham counties. Troopers also arrested 109 impaired drivers. More than 11,850 motorists were cited for speeding and more than 3,480 were cited for reckless driving. The statistical counting period was from Friday through midnight Monday.
Bob and Maureen McDonnell
(Associated Press photo)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A federal jury will hear instructions from a judge before beginning deliberations in the public corruption trial of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen. U.S. District Judge James Spencer is to read his instructions to the seven-man, five-woman jury Tuesday morning. Prosecutors and defense attorneys wrapped up the five-week trial Friday. The McDonnells are charged with doing special favors for Jonnie Williams, the former CEO of dietary supplements maker Star Scientific Inc., in exchange for more than $165,000 in gifts and loans. Bob McDonnell testified he did nothing other than extend routine political courtesies to Williams. Maureen McDonnell did not testify. Williams testified under immunity that he spent freely on the McDonnells only to secure help promoting his company’s chief product, the anti-inflammatory Anatabloc.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ Roanoke police are investigating the death of a 2-year-old girl who was left in a van for an extended period of time. Police spokesman Scott Leamon says in a news release that authorities received a report of an unresponsive child at 4:27 p.m. Sunday. Emergency responders pronounced the girl dead at the scene. Leamon says a preliminary investigation indicates that a parent accidentally left the girl in a car seat in the van. The van was parked in the driveway of a residence. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Roanoke reached 90 degrees Sunday afternoon. Leamon says the investigation is continuing.
(Continue reading for Roanoke Police Dept. news release)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A review by The Associated Press has found that a Virginia commission that invests money from a national tobacco settlement gave $21 million to an economic development group and a telephone cooperative run by family members of the commission’s powerful chairman. The grants are not illegal, but they are part of a rocky history of questionable spending of the Virginia Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission. The commission controls about $600 million in cash and investments. The commission’s chairman is Terry Kilgore, a Republican state legislator from a powerful political family. He says his family relationships have not influenced the commission’s spending. The commission has long been under scrutiny from various state officials and is part of an FBI investigation into the resignation of a Democratic state senator.
Morris Fontenot (USAF photo)
WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) _ The pilot who was killed in the crash of an F-15 jet this week in the remote Virginia mountains has been identified as Lt. Col. Morris Fontenot Jr. Officials with the Massachusetts Air National Guard say Fontenot was the inspector general for the 104th Fighter Wing and had had more than 2,300 flight hours of experience. He was flying the plane to New Orleans for a radar system upgrade when he crashed Wednesday in western Virginia. Officials say he reported an in-flight emergency before losing radio contact. The cause remains under investigation. Col. James Keefe of the Massachusetts air guard said Friday that the death was announced with “profound sadness.” Fontenot was a 1996 Air Force Academy graduate. Officials say he was an F-15 instructor pilot with more than 17 years of experience flying the jets.
Associated Press photo
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Testimony has wrapped up in the public corruption trial of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen. Closing arguments are set for Friday morning. The last witness Thursday was an FBI agent who testified that the McDonnells were together 90 percent of the nights during the 22 months that were the focus of the investigation. The testimony is intended to undercut a defense claim that the McDonnells’ marriage was so fractured they couldn’t have engaged in a conspiracy. The McDonnells are charged with taking more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from former Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie Williams in exchange for promoting his company’s dietary supplements. Williams testified under immunity that he spent lavishly on the McDonnells only to secure their help. McDonnell denied criminal wrongdoing.
WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) _ A Massachusetts Air National Guard officer says authorities are still searching for the pilot of a fighter jet that crashed in Virginia and do not know whether the pilot may have ejected. The single-seat F-15C crashed in the mountains of western Virginia on Wednesday morning. Col. James Keefe of the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard said at a news conference in Westfield, Massachusetts, that the missing pilot is an experienced flyer. He said the plane was on its way to New Orleans to have a radar installed as part of routine maintenance. Keefe said he had not received confirmation that anyone had reached the crash site. Officials say the pilot reported an inflight emergency, then lost radio contact.
Associated Press photo
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A friend of Maureen McDonnell has suggested that the Virginia former first lady was easily manipulated by the wealthy businessman who showered her and her husband with gifts and loans. April Niamtu testified as a witness for Maureen McDonnell after lawyers for former Gov. Bob McDonnell rested their case Wednesday. The McDonnells are charged with accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from former Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie Williams in exchange for promoting his company’s dietary supplements. Niamtu described Maureen McDonnell as “very trusting, very gullible.” She said that on a trip to California, the first lady declined Williams’ request that she say a few words at a company event with researchers. But she says Williams introduced her anyway and called her to the stage for some remarks.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ A mountaintop winery in the Roanoke Valley has been put up for sale. Valhalla Vineyards is listed for $3.5 million. The winery is located atop Chestnut Mountain in Roanoke County. Real estate agent Zack McCoy tells The Roanoke Times (http://bit.ly/1nBTh8A) that the winery has been on the market since last November. But agents couldn’t publicly advertise the property because of a non-disclosure agreement. McCoy says the sale went public last month. Owners James and Debra Vascik bought the property in 1993 and opened the winery in 1999. James Vascik declined to comment on the sale.