Crime and Public Safety
A local U.S. Congressman is taking additional steps to help those concerned about the coronavirus outbreak. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
NEWS RELEASE: The Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Wytheville Field Office has concluded its investigation into the September 2019 death of an inmate at the New River Valley Regional Jail. The case is closed and no charges will be placed in accordance with the findings of the Office of the Medical Examiner in Roanoke and at the advisement of the City of Radford Commonwealth’s Attorney and Pulaski County Commonwealth’s Attorney.
The investigation was conducted at the request of the New River Valley Regional Jail. On the evening of Sept. 11, 2019, Radford University Police responded to a call at a campus facility concerning Aris Eduardo Lobo-Perez, 18, of Culpeper, Va. Police took him into custody shortly before midnight on a charge of public intoxication. As is standard procedure, Lobo-Perez was transported by the arresting agency to New River Valley Regional Jail in Pulaski County.
At approximately 7:20 a.m. on Sept. 12, 2019, jail personnel approached Lobo-Perez to offer him breakfast, which he declined. It was at 7:50 a.m. that jail personnel found Lobo-Perez unresponsive in his cell. Despite the immediate efforts by jail personnel to resuscitate the inmate, Lobo-Perez was declared deceased at the jail. His remains were transported to the Office of the Medical Examiner in Roanoke for examination and autopsy.
DANVILLE, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison in the beating death of his 1-year-old daughter.
John Robert Shore, 32, pleaded guilty to non-capital murder in Danville Circuit Court on Thursday, news outlets reported. A child abuse charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Prosecutors alleged Shore told 911 dispatchers on a January night in 2019 that his infant daughter, Oaklyn Leigh Owens, was limp in her crib and appeared to have stopped breathing. He claimed the child had fallen out of her crib onto a wooden floor the night before, but medics immediately noticed she was in cardiac arrest and had bruises and scabbed over injuries on her body, court documents show.
Defense attorney Glenn Berger argued Oaklyn’s death was an accident. But Danville Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Petra Haskins pointed to evidence that showed Oaklyn died from complications of blunt trauma to the head.
Shore was also accused of giving conflicting accounts of what happened to Oaklyn — first saying she fell from the crib, hitting a dresser and the floor, then saying she had climbed up near a coffee table and fallen earlier in the week, according to testimony from prosecutors.
Evidence from the scene revealed a fresh hole in the wall in Shore’s bedroom and blood found on the bed both contained Oaklyn’s DNA.
Oaklyn’s mother, Danielle Owens, was also accused of giving inconsistent statements to investigators, but police didn’t find evidence suggesting she hurt the child, court documents showed.
(AP) Parts of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s sweeping gun control legislation have won final passage in the General Assembly. Lawmakers gave final passage to several pieces of gun control legislation Friday. That includes a red flag bill to allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from people deemed to be dangerous to themselves or others, and legislation giving local governments more authority to ban guns in public places. Virginia has become the epicenter of the nation’s gun debate after Democrats took full control of the General Assembly last year on an aggressive gun-control platform. Northam is set to get seven out of eight gun control measures passed this year.
(news release) Roanoke County Fire and Rescue responded at about 12:40 p.m. today in the 200 block of 8th Street, in the Town of Vinton, after a report of a commercial structure fire. First arriving crews from Station 2 (Vinton) found light smoke coming from a third floor apartment window. There were two occupants, an elderly female and a juvenile who was visiting, in the apartment at the time of the fire both were able to evacuate safely.
Paramedics later treated the elderly female for other medical problems and she was transported to a local hospital. Firefighters rescued one dog from the apartment where the fire occurred and provided oxygen to the dog. The three adult occupants of the apartment will be displaced. The American Red Cross will be assisting the family. The fire was extinguished in about 25 minutes. The Roanoke County Fire Marshal’s Office now says improper disposal of smoking materials was the cause; damages are estimated at $11,000.
A federal jury has convicted a Roanoke man who prosecutors describe as a drug “kingpin” – and who was subject to the largest fentanyl seizure in Virginia at the time of his arrest. A jury convicted Monta Jordan last night on drug counts that also include heroin, meth and cocaine. The feds say he ran an extensive operation from Roanoke that ran at a minimum into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
NEWS RELEASE: A Roanoke man, who was subject to one of the largest Fentanyl seizures in Virginia at the time, was convicted last night at the conclusion of a six-day jury trial on federal charges relating to a poly-drug conspiracy, United State Attorney Thomas T. Cullen announced today.
Monta Orlando Jordan, 44, a.k.a. “Ghost” and “Tae,” was convicted of one count of conspiring to distribute heroin, Fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine; one count of possession with the intent to distribute Fentanyl; one count of attempting to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine; one count of attempting to possess with the intent to distribute heroin; and possession of one or more firearms in furtherance of the overall drug conspiracy.
“Until his arrest in August 2017, Monta Jordan oversaw a drug distribution network responsible for dealing huge quantities of heroin, Fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine throughout the Roanoke Valley,” U.S. Attorney Cullen stated today. “Thanks to the hard work of the DEA, the Virginia State Police, the Roanoke Valley Regional Drug Initiative, the Roanoke City and County Police Departments, and supporting agencies, one of the biggest and most prolific drug dealers in recent memory now faces decades behind bars.”
Evidence presented at trial established that Jordan ran an extensive drug operation that began no later than the summer of 2016 and extended even beyond his arrest on federal charges in August 2017. Witness testimony established that, following his arrest on August 10, 2017, Jordan successfully smuggled one or more cell phones into his cell at a local jail and used the phones to coordinate the delivery and distribution of narcotics. A known girlfriend and associate of Jordan’s, Amany Mohamed Raya, was convicted last month of attempting to smuggle one of tse phones to Jordan in the spine of a fake binder of documents, designed to look like confidential legal mail. In a coordinated effort by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Roanoke City Sheriff’s Department, the United States Marshals Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA], authorities caught Jordan in possession of one of the contraband phones and successfully intercepted Raya’s fake legal mail before it could be delivered to Jordan.
Evidence at trial also established that prior to his arrest in August 2017, Jordan trafficked large quantities of narcotics into the Roanoke-area through the mail and couriers, who were compensated for their willingness to transport narcotics by car from places such as New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio. Further evidence established that Jordan received narcotics by FedEx from Arizona and in turn mailed large quantities of United States currency to designated recipients in those states. In July 2017, for example, the United States Postal Inspection Service intercepted two packages mailed by Jordan and his associates containing collectively just under $100,000 in cash. Jordan put one of his home addresses on the first package, as established by photographs and eyewitness testimony. Inside that package, agents found a basketball wrapped in carbon paper and surrounded by miscellaneous chair cushions. The basketball itself had been cut and contained $49,950 in rubber-banded currency.
Jurors also heard evidence regarding Jordan’s methods of transporting narcotics into the area by car. Among other vehicles, Jordan owned a burgundy Ford Fusion, which he identified in his own text messages as the “Batmobile.” On August 5, 2017, surveillance officers conducted a traffic stop of the “Batmobile” during a return trip by Jordan and his associates from New York. In the course of a subsequent search of that vehicle, specially trained interdiction officers with the Virginia State Police discovered a secret compartment, or trap, underneath the factory-installed carpet in the trunk of the car. Inside the trap, VSP agents located approximately 4.5 pounds of Fentanyl, one of the largest seizures of its kind at that time. The Fentanyl was contained in plastic bags and covered in an oily masking agent, designed to defeat the scenting capabilities of K-9 drug dogs.
In addition to transporting his own drugs, Jordan received narcotics delivered to him from outside the area. Evidence established that between January and August 2017, Jordan received at least 36 kilograms of cocaine and a kilogram of heroin in Roanoke, at prices of $35,000 and $60,000 per kilogram, respectively. Jordan retrieved these deliveries at various locations around the Valley View Mall and made cash payments toward his purchases of as much as $320,000 during scheduled meetings.
Jordan was apprehended by authorities in August 2017. On August 10, 2017, authorities received information regarding a suspicious FedEx package designated for an address associated with Jordan. Following receipt of a federal search warrant, agents opened the package and found approximately one pound each of packaged cocaine and heroin inside.
Agents replaced the narcotics with sham, or fake, drugs designed to match the appearance and weight of the seized contraband, and made a controlled delivery of the FedEx package to its designated location. Jurors saw aerial surveillance footage of Jordan retrieving the package from the target residence and proceeding toward Highway 122 in Bedford County.
Jordan was intercepted by Virginia State Police and undercover surveillance units near the intersection of Highway 122 and Morgans Church Road, in Bedford. In video footage of the ensuing police pursuit, Jordan could be seen throwing the sham drugs out the window of his vehicle and over a bridge, attempting to dispose of what he believed were genuine narcotics in his possession. He was taken into custody shortly after the sham packages entered the creek below, and has remained incarcerated since that time.
The investigation of this case led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Virginia State Police, the Roanoke City and Roanoke County Police Departments, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and members of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA), with invaluable assistance and support from the Air National Guard; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosive, the Department of Homeland Security, the United States Marshals Service, the Salem Police Department, the Roanoke Sheriff’s Office, and the Criminal Investigations Division of the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Assistant United States Attorneys Kari Munro and Anthony Giorno prosecuted the case for the United States.
Photo: RCSO
WENTWORTH, N.C. (AP) — A Virginia woman accused of fatally injuring her 3-month-old son has been charged with murder and child abuse, according to authorities in North Carolina.
The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office alleged Shantiequa Renea Woods, of Danville, Virginia, fatally injured her son while he was staying with her near Ruffin, North Carolina, last week.
The agency wrote in a statement that the child, Isaiah Woods, had suffered blunt force trauma to his head and torso. The baby was taken to a hospital Thursday night where he was pronounced dead.
Authorities were continuing to investigate.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the leader of a white nationalist rally that ended in violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Jason Kessler argued in the lawsuit that law enforcement and city officials violated his free speech rights by effectuating a “heckler’s veto” on the 2017 Unite the Right rally.
Kessler argued that the defendants knew of plans by leftist “Antifa” activists to disrupt the rally, then used the expected chaos and violence caused by confrontations between alt-right protesters and “Antifa” counter-protesters as an excuse to shut down the rally.
U.S. District Court Judge Norman Moon ruled Friday that the defendants did not breach any affirmative constitutional duty to Kessler.
Moon said that while the defendants had a constitutional obligation to not restrict Kessler’s speech because of the threat or possibility of public hostility to the alt-right message, they had no constitutional obligation to prevent that public hostility.
“In sum, plaintiffs’ allegations that defendants failed to prevent private parties from mutually engaging in violence that led to the declaration of an unlawful assembly did not state a claim for the violation of a constitutional right,” Moon wrote.
The August 2017 rally was held to protest the planned removal of a statute of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The event drew hundreds of white nationalists and hundreds of counterprotesters.
After authorities forced the clashing crowds to disperse, a car driven by a white nationalist plowed into a group of people, killing 32-year-old counterprotester Heather Heyer.
The driver of the car, James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio, was sentenced last year to life in prison.
Photo: Chris Hurst Facebook
No policies were violated and a police officer did not give Delegate Chris Hurst any preferential treatment when Hurst was stopped and released on January 26th – after he tested just above the legal threshold for drunken driving. That was the word from Christiansburg Police Chief Mark Sisson this morning.
(Police department news release) “Once a determination has been reached that there is not probable cause to arrest an individual, an officer has limited authority to restrict that individual’s liberty. The Christiansburg Police Department has issued additional guidance to officers to encourage exploring all possible alternative modes of transportation – such as ride sharing or public transportation – in future encounters. Because of the complex – and at times contradictory – nature of the provisions of the Code of Virginia and the Constitution of Virginia in this area, the Christiansburg Police Department has clarified its policy to state that while the General Assembly is in session, officers shall only arrest or charge members of the General Assembly for treason, felony offenses or offenses clearly constituting a breach of peace – which policy defines as violent offenses or an offense that creates a public disturbance or panic.
For all other offenses while the General Assembly is in session, officers shall document the offense, and if deemed warranted after consultation with the commonwealth’s attorney, obtain a warrant or summons for the offense after the session concludes. Over the past few weeks, we’ve received a lot of feedback from the public and understand not everyone agrees with the officer’s decision that night and will not agree with the results of this internal investigation,” [Sisson said]. “However, we remain confident in the judgement and integrity of our officers and trust them to make sound enforcement decisions based on objective, factual information and observations and to remain uninfluenced by social or political pressure. We continually review our procedures and performance and will always do so, particularly in matters of great public concern. We remain steadfast in our commitment to provide the best possible law enforcement service to our community.”