Crime and Public Safety
(update 2/5 Roanoke County) The driver in Thursday’s crash in Roanoke City has been identified as Barry Wayne Mills Jr., 47, of Blue Ridge. In addition to charges related to the pursuit and crash, Mr. Mills was arrested on multiple counts of breaking and entering, larcenies and property damage, and additional charges are pending. Mr. Mills is the suspect in multiple business break-ins throughout Botetourt County, Roanoke County and Roanoke City, and his arrest was through the joint effort of the Virginia State Police, Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office, Roanoke City Police Department, and Roanoke County Police DepartmentDetectives.###
(PREVIOUSLY) State Police say a suspect is in custody after a high-speed pursuit ended with his car becoming stuck in a drainage ditch. Officials say members of a drug trafficking task force spotted him and called in units in efforts to make an arrest, but the suspect tried to elude them at high speeds. Police say the suspect couldn’t handle the turn from Franklin Road onto Brandon Avenue, and the car got stuck in the drainage ditch. Officers found him hiding in a nearby dumpster and took him into custody.
NEWS RELEASE: This morning at approximately 8:44 a.m. this morning officers from a multi-jurisdictional task force, including officers from The City of Roanoke Police, Roanoke County Police and the Virginia State Police spotted a white and black Mustang which was driven by a known wanted subject. The subject is wanted for multiple arrest warrants in Roanoke County and Botetourt County. The officers contacted a marked Virginia State Police unit to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle. When a marked state police vehicle activated its emergency equipment on Franklin Rd, a short pursuit followed, ending with the suspect vehicle crashing at the intersection of Franklin Road and Brandon Ave.
PREVIOUS: State Police say the police presence is the result of a pursuit and crash that ended on Franklin Road.
PREVIOUS: There’s a large police presence at George’s Flowers in Roanoke. At least five police officers have been spotted at the business which sits at the corner of Franklin Road and Brandon Avenue. There was no obvious damage to the building.
Check back for updates as they become available.
UPDATE today 2/3: Roanoke Police have arrested Herbert Giddens Jr., 24 of Roanoke, and charged him with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony regarding the death of Nathaniel Briggs.
(11/25/20 release) UPDATE: The deceased victim of this incident has been identified as Nathaniel Briggs, 36 of Roanoke. All parties involved in this incident have been identified, and detectives are continuing their investigation. Detectives will continue to update the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, who will ultimately determine if charges will be placed regarding this incident. No arrests have been made at this time, and there are no further updates to this incident.
(original Roanoke PD release) On November 23, 2020 at approximately 10:15 p.m., Roanoke Police responded to reports of a person with a gunshot wound in the 2400 block of Centre Avenue NW. Officers located an adult male with what appeared to be serious
injuries inside a residence in the area. Officers rendered first aid until Roanoke Fire-EMS arrived. The victim was pronounced deceased on scene by Roanoke Fire-EMS personnel. His identity will be released after next of kin is notified. Officers were able to determine that all parties involved in the incident remained on scene. All individuals are cooperating with the investigation
and are known to one another.
A bill is advancing in Richmond that would reduce the legal obstacles for many defendants seeking release on bail. Right now under Virginia law, defendants facing a variety of charges — mainly violent crimes and repeat offenders — are presumed unworthy of bail unless they can demonstrate otherwise. The bill under consideration would eliminate that presumption, although judges and magistrates would still have discretion to deny. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:
(VSP News Release) PITTSYVANIA, Va. – Virginia State Police Trooper W.W. McCraw is investigating a single vehicle crash, which resulted in a fatality. The crash occurred Sunday (Jan 31) at 2:34 a.m. on Route 41 just north of Route 750 in Pittsylvania County. A 1996 Mazda MX-6 was traveling south on Route 41, when the vehicle ran off the right side of the roadway and struck a tree. The Mazda was driven by Jacob T. Snead, 22, of Ringold, Va. Mr. Snead was wearing his seatbelt and was injured. Mr. Snead was transported to a local hospital. The passenger, Daniel Foster Adams, 24, of Vernon Hill, Va. died at the scene.
From Roanoke City Police: On January 31, 2021 at approximately 3:45 a.m., Roanoke Police were notified of a person with a gunshot wound in the 700 block of Hunt Avenue NW. Responding officers located an adult male unresponsive in a vehicle with a serious gunshot wound. Roanoke Fire-EMS transported him to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced deceased. The victim’s identity will be released after next of kin is notified.
No suspects were located on scene and no arrests have been made at this time. This is an active homicide investigation.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call (540)344-8500 and share what you know. You can also text us at 274637; please begin the
text with “RoanokePD” to ensure it’s properly sent. Both calls and texts can remain anonymous.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A bill that would have restored parole in Virginia was killed Friday after lawmakers heard emotional testimony from family members of crime victims who pleaded with them to guarantee their assailants would stay locked up.
The Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee voted to send the measure to the Virginia State Crime Commission for study, ending the bill’s chances of passing this year.
Virginia abolished discretionary parole in 1995 and began requiring offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.
During a hearing Friday, several family members of murder victims described the crimes in heart-wrenching detail and urged lawmakers to vote against reinstating parole.
Debbie Songer testified through tears about the killing of her 19-year-old son, Ben Graessle, in 2012. Graessle was shot three times outside an apartment complex in Harrisonburg. Dallas Chaplin, of Staunton, was convicted in his killing and is serving a 40-year sentence.
Songer said she gave her approval to a plea bargain because Chaplin offered to plead guilty under the deal. She said she would have pushed for the trial to go forward and for Chaplin to get a life sentence if she had thought he would be given a chance at parole.
“This is so unfair — making this retroactive — it’s so unfair to the victims and to their loved ones.”
Bryan Haskins, the top prosecutor in Pittsylvania County, spoke on behalf of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys, saying the group opposed the measure and the retroactivity provision in particular.
Haskins also warned that the state parole board is not funded or staffed to handle the influx of the possible thousands of inmates who would become parole-eligible if the measure passed. The board has been under fire this year from prosecutors and victims’ families who raised concerns that the board was not following its own procedures in providing notification about its decisions. Those concerns have been at least partly substantiated by investigations by the state’s government watchdog agency.
Several people testified in favor of the bill, saying offenders who have used their time in prison to rehabilitate themselves should be given a second chance and allowed to return to society.
They emphasized that the bill wouldn’t automatically grant parole, it would just give inmates a chance to have their case considered. They said that offenders deserve a chance to prove they have changed.
“Again, parole is not a retrial of the case. Parole is the opportunity to have men and women, human beings, reenter society, rebuild their communities, and show and prove that the Department of Corrections, a state government agency, is doing their job,” said one speaker.
Others said the issue has already been extensively studied and urged lawmakers to take action this year.
“I mean, how many more parole bills need to be sent to the crime commission for study?” said one speaker, whose name was listed as Michelle Hawkins as she provided testimony virtually.
Sen. Joe Morrissey, who was a chief co-patron of the bill, said he supports the restoration of parole but agreed that the issue needs more study.
United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Virginia release:
ROANOKE, Va. – Bryan Wade Lewis, a former pharmacist at Home Choice Partners in Roanoke, was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court here for tampering with a consumer product, hydromorphone, that affected interstate commerce. Acting United States Attorney Daniel P. Bubar made the announcement today.
Lewis, 35, of Roanoke, Virginia, was sentenced today to 12 months and 1 day in federal prison. He pleaded guilty in September 2020 to one count of tampering with a consumer product.
“Tampering with powerful narcotics can harm patients and will not be tolerated,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Bubar. “We appreciate the good work on this case by FDA, DEA, DHP, and VSP that brought Lewis to justice and demonstrates our commitment to ensure the public receives safe and unadulterated medication.”
“Those who knowingly tamper with and steal medicines risk harming patients by depriving them of their prescribed therapies,” said Special Agent in Charge Mark S. McCormack, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Metro Washington Field Office. “We will continue to protect the public health and bring to justice healthcare professionals and others who take advantage of their position and compromise patients’ health and comfort by tampering with needed drugs.”
According to court documents, in January 2018 an employee at Home Choice Partners in Roanoke discovered a needle, alcohol pad, and a bloody tissue in the toilet of an employee bathroom and reported it to another employee. When asked by that employee if he knew anything about the items, Lewis said the items may have fallen out of his pocket. The employee contacted human resources and a decision was made to drug test all employees.
Lewis, who was scheduled to be off work on the day of the drug test, was instructed to report to work to be administered a drug screening. However, Lewis contacted an employee and explained that he was the employee responsible for the items in the toilet. When asked, Lewis explained he had been engaging in such conduct for nine months. Lewis admitted there was a 50 ml vial of hydromorphone in the back of the narcotics cabinet that did not contain hydromorphone, but instead had been replaced, by him, with saline.
Roanoke City Police are asking for the public’s help to locate a missing minor. Authorities say 16-year-old Hunter “Alex” Trail, was reported missing yesterday after he was last seen at his home in the 47 hundred block of Long Acre Dr. NE. Trail was last seen wearing a blue shirt with black pants.
STAFFORD, Va. (AP) — Virginia sheriff’s deputies who shot and wounded a murder suspect were justified in using deadly force, authorities have determined.
The head prosecutor for Stafford County said Friday that the action by the deputies were justified and that they will return to regular duty.
George R. Batts Jr., 38, of Richlands, North Carolina, was shot last Sunday morning by deputies who responded to a shooting at 1130 International Parkway in Stafford.
Batts is accused of fatally shooting Ely Grimes, 47, before the deputies arrived.
According to investigators, Batts and Grimes were attending an event for the Tuckahoe Motorcycle Club. The group has a clubhouse in the business park where the shooting occurred.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said Batts ignored repeated demands to drop his weapon and was shot multiple times after he pointed the gun toward the deputies.
It’s unclear what led to the initial shooting.
Authorities said Batts remained hospitalized Friday night and will be charged with murder when he recovers enough to face charges in court. Initial charges of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony had been filed before Grimes died on Tuesday.
Press Release: The Salem Fire & EMS Department responded to a structure fire at 127 Valleydale Avenue this afternoon at approximately 5:10 p.m. Two people were at home at the time of the fire and they escaped without injury. The first units arrived within four minutes of receiving the call and found heavy fire and smoke coming from the back of the home. The fire engulfed the rear exterior area of the house and extended into the basement. Firefighters brought the flames under control within ten minutes of the arrival of the first truck. The building did sustain fire and smoke damage,but the interior damage was limited to the basement and did not spread to the first floor.The Salem Fire Marshal’s Office has ruled the fire accidental and determined that it was caused by the improper disposal of smoking materials.Damage to the structure is estimated at $30,000. The two residents were displaced and are being assisted by family.Approximately 19 personnel from the Salem Fire & EMS Department (Truck 1, Engine 2, Engine 3, Medic 801, Medic 802, Medic 803, Battalion 1 & Fire Medic 1) responded to the call.