Across Virginia
From Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation site
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has a new way you can support the park in style — the catch? They need a few more applicants before the end of the year to get it approved. WFIR’s Emma Thomas has details:
Click here to pre-order the plate
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A Virginia sheriff’s deputy who police say traveled to California to kill three family members of a 15-year-old girl he tried to sexually extort online killed himself with a government-issued firearm, authorities said Saturday.
Austin Lee Edwards, 28, drove across the country and on Nov. 25 killed the girl’s mother and grandparents and set fire to their home in Riverside, a city about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles, authorities said.
That same day, Edwards died by suicide during a shootout with San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies. The teenage girl was rescued.
“Our detectives determined the gun used was Edwards’ department-issued semi-automatic service pistol,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Gloria Huerta said in a statement.
The Riverside Police Department, which is investigating the deaths of the girl’s family members, has not said how they were killed.
Edwards, a resident of North Chesterfield, Virginia, appears to have posed online as a 17-year-old boy to engage in a romantic relationship with the girl and obtain her personal information by deceiving her with a false identity, known as “catfishing,” police said.
Authorities said the girl stopped communicating with him after he asked her to send him nude photos of herself.
Edwards was a former Virginia state trooper and was a sheriff’s deputy in Washington County, Virginia, at the time of the killings.
Both law enforcement agencies have said they found no warning signs about Edwards before he was hired. But a police report from the Abingdon Police Department in Virginia shows he was detained in 2016 for a psychiatric evaluation over threats to kill himself and his father, years before he joined law enforcement.
On Thursday — a day after the Los Angeles Times broke the news about the mental health episode — the Virginia State Police said a recently completed review showed “human error” resulted in an incomplete database query during the hiring process.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to calls seeking comment on the 2016 episode.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s state government watchdog agency has cleared the state’s tourism office of wrongdoing when it gave Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s political ad-maker a state contract to produce a tourism video featuring the governor.
The Virginia Tourism Corp. selected Poolhouse last spring to produce the video, receiving a contract of $268,000.
Democratic legislative leaders raised concerns about the award after it became public and in October asked the Office of the State Inspector General to investigate.
The report, dated Thursday from Inspector General Michael Westfall, said that while Virginia Tourism CEO Rita McClenny bypassed standard agency guidance to seek competitive bids for large tourism projects, state law allowed her to do so, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
Poolhouse has previously defended its participation in the project, and a Youngkin spokesman has said the governor and his staff had no role in encouraging the selection of Poolhouse.
According to public records previously obtained by the Times-Dispatch, some aides to Youngkin raised concerns about using Poolhouse through a single-sourced contract and asked the agency to seek additional bids. One other firm didn’t respond and another said it couldn’t meet the scope of work, records show.
The tourism office “is exempt from state procurement guidelines,” Westfall wrote on Thursday to state Commerce Secretary Caren Merrick, adding that the cost to complete the project “was reasonable based on similar projects completed by other vendors.”
The “Governor’s Welcome Project” ad has been shown at state welcome centers and in airports, according to Virginia Tourism. Poolhouse produces ads in part for Republican campaigns and political action committees. It worked on Youngkin’s winning campaign last year and continues to work with his PAC.
The inspector general, who serves at the pleasure of the governor, investigates waste and identifies inefficiencies in state government.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — A former police officer in Virginia was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for fatally shooting a man after a struggle in which the man got hold of a stun gun and used it on officers.
The Daily Press reported that former Newport News police officer Albin Pearson was immediately remanded into sheriff’s office custody following his sentencing.
The 2019 shooting of Henry “Hank” Berry III stemmed from an incident in which Pearson and three other officers responded to Berry’s home for his alleged abuse of the 911 system, WAVY-TV reported.
Berry refused to come outside and tried to close his front door — and the officers entered and tried to arrest him, authorities said. The officers lacked a search warrant or an arrest warrant.
During the ensuing struggle, Berry got control of a stun gun, authorities said. Pearson shot Berry in the back.
Pearson was initially charged with second-degree murder. But a jury convicted him of manslaughter and a misdemeanor trespass charge.
ROANOKE, Va.– A Roanoke, Virginia man who trafficked at least 25 firearms from Virginia, at least nine of which were later tied to criminal activities in other states, was sentenced yesterday to seven years in federal prison.
Jermaine Drummond, 46, pled guilty in August 2022 to two counts of knowingly making a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm and aiding and abetting in the same.
“Illegal guns in the hands of prohibited owners lead to higher levels of violent crime in our neighborhoods. It is a cornerstone of the Department of Justice’s public safety policy to keep these guns out of the hands of those who should not have them,” United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said today. “My Office will continue to vigorously prosecute individuals who threaten the safety of our communities by circumventing the law to supply firearms to violent criminals.”
“We will continue to utilize intelligence-driven approaches to eradicate the supply of crime guns to violent offenders,” said ATF Washington Field Division acting Special Agent in Charge Christopher Amon. “We will remain on the frontlines alongside our law enforcement partners in the fight to disrupt and dismantle the illegal possession of firearms, which continue to plague our communities with violence.”
According to court documents, beginning in 2019 and continuing until June 2020, Drummond, a convicted felon, used non-prohibited individuals to purchase at least 25 firearms for him. Some of those purchases were made from federally licensed firearms dealers, while others were acquired through private transactions. At least nine of these illegally-procured firearms have been recovered in connection with criminal activity in Maryland, New York, and the District of Columbia.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin B. Johnson prosecuted the case.
Roanoke County leaders say strong, and responsible financial stability will lead to achievements in the future. WFIR’s Clark Palmer has that story:
Members of the Satanic Temple hope hosting a family movie night will combat negative stigmas. WFIR’s Clark Palmer has details
Ticket information here:
https://donate.thesatanictemple.org/secure/event_step2/MTYyMjY4/181976
The University of Virginia has canceled its game against rival Virginia Tech scheduled for Saturday following the slaying of three football players on campus just over a week ago. The university made the announcement Monday, two days after a nearly two-hour memorial service to remember Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry. The three were fatally shot after a field trip to see a play in Washington. Two others were wounded. Former Virginia football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. faces three counts of second-degree murder and other charges. The Cavaliers also canceled their game slated for last weekend against No. 23 Coastal Carolina.
Lavel Davis Jr. (left), D’Sean Perry (center), Devin Chandler (right)
The University of Virginia Police Department says UVA received a threatening email today in advance of the planned 3:30 pm memorial service for the three students fatally shot earlier this week. The department says “We are taking all reasonable measures to ensure the safety our our patrons and the security of the facility.”
From UVA Police: Around mid-day the University received a threatening email related to today’s planned Memorial Service at JPJ Arena. We are taking all reasonable measures to ensure the safety of our patrons and the security of the facility. Please be advised that UVA has enhanced security measures in and near the Arena. At this time, the Memorial will continue as planned. If you see anything suspicious, please notify lawvenforcement or security professionals immediately.
A nationwide settlement between 43 states and Walmart will provide more than $60 million toward state efforts to battle the impacts of opioid and fentanyl addiction. The states alleged that Walmart contributed to the national opioid crisis by improperly managing the the drugs’ distribution at their stores. The settlement totals $3.1 billion in all, and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares says the commonwealth’s share goes to the state’s Opioid Abatement Authority, created to help people dealing with addiction. The authority distributes proceeds from this and other other opioid-related settlements, along with various grants and donations, to localities statewide. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones: