Law & Crime

The U.S. Attorney for the Western Division of Virginia announced the indictment of nine people today. 

Four are charged with the murder of Waynesboro police officer Kevin Quick.   All but one are accused of other crimes committed as members of the Bloods street gang.

Lynchburg Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Doucette held a news conference to say no charges will be filed in the death of Lynchburg teenager Jamisha Gilbert.  Her body was found in a briar patch near the intersection of Concord Turnpike and Route 460 last December. 

There are a number of child porn possession cases in the news, many of which have been investigated by the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task force. Recent cases range from nude selfies taken by a teenage girl, to a possession case in which a very small number of images were downloaded "out of curiosity" to the case of former UVA Associate Dean Michael Morris who pled guilty this week to the possession and distribution of child pornography. 

  A Virginia man is suing the F.B.I. and local police over his arrest for things he wrote on Facebook.  

It’s been nearly two years since 29-year-old Brandon Raub began posting things on his Facebook page – things that scared friends and the federal government.   Honorably discharged from the Marines after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Raub became convinced that  9/11 was a U.S. government conspiracy.  He wrote:

There are about 30,000 Virginians in state prisons, and Virginia spends more than $25,000 a year to house each of them, making the Department of Corrections the most expensive agency in Richmond, with a billion dollar annual budget. It spends $160 million on healthcare, but critics say that care is inadequate, and some inmates could be dying for lack of medical attention. 

Another 30,000 people are locked up in city or county jails, and as we hear in this series, their care is also questionable.