Wednesday, June 10WATCHFUL EYE

Popular

Military & foreign service spouses exempt from federal return-to-work order
No Comments
News, Popular

Military & foreign service spouses exempt from federal return-to-work order

Federal employees married to active-duty service members and U.S. Foreign Service members working overseas are exempt from President Trump’s return to work order, according to guidance issued by the U.S. Office of Personal Management (OPM) on Wednesday. That OPM memo also made clarified that federal employers can continue to offer remote jobs to military spouse in those categories. “Agencies should accordingly ensure that their return-to-office plans categorically exempt all military spouses authorized to engage in remote work,” the memo to agency and department heads stated. SAVE ON PURCHASES! GET BETTER DELIVERY OPTIONS! Military spouses covered by this guidance include spouses of members performing full-time National Guard duties, the memo states. It includes spouses of ...
Read More
Family offering $40K reward for info on Wakefield double shooting
No Comments
Crime, News, Popular

Family offering $40K reward for info on Wakefield double shooting

Sussex County Sheriff’s Office announced the family of two October 2024 shooting victims is offering a $40,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case. SCSO said, on October 24, at about 11:49 p.m., the office received a call reporting a person shot at a residence on East Church Street in Wakefield. Information gathered suggested two people went into the home and shot two residents, the office added. With the announcement of the family’s reward offer, Sussex police reissued its Attempt to Locate poster for the two individuals shown in the images above. Those images show two persons of interest crossing the parking lot of a business in Wakefield, coming from the Pocahantas area, heading toward East Church Street at approximately 11:39 p.m. then r...
Read More
Mother and 3 children killed in murder/suicide in Chesapeake
No Comments
News, Popular

Mother and 3 children killed in murder/suicide in Chesapeake

Chesapeake Police Department revealed that those killed in a February 6th “murder/suicide” were a mother and her three children. CPD reported that at approximately 6:54 a.m. on Thursday morning, officers responded to a welfare check at a residence in the 3000 block of Welcome Road. The officers made contact with the occupant who was barricaded and armed, according to police. According to CPD, officers immediately established a perimeter and attempted to negotiate. Meanwhile, SWAT and hostage negotiators were dispatched to the scene. Later in the incident, authorities were made aware that there were children inside who were potentially injured or dead. “Given the urgency, the SWAT team conducted an emergency entry,” CPD stated. By the time officers made entry, they found three ...
Read More
Massachusetts 16-year-old convicted as adult of attempted murder in Virginia
No Comments
Popular

Massachusetts 16-year-old convicted as adult of attempted murder in Virginia

Yesterday, Feb. 5, Jose Rodriguez, a 16-year-old Massachusetts resident charged as an adult, was found guilty of attempted 1st degree murder in Smyth County, VA. That conviction stemmed from a July 2024 incident where Rodriguez attacked a gas station attendant with a fixed blade knife at the Chilhowie Exxon, noted Smyth County Commonwealth’s Attorney Phillip Blevins. After stabbing the employee, Rodriguez, who was 15 at the time and a runaway, went on the run with the intention of leaving the county, Chilhowie Police Chief Andrew K. Moss reported. But the teen was caught in Tennessee. A Tennessee trooper saw a car swerving saw the driver had a cellphone in hand, explained Moss. When the trooper tried to make a traffic stop, the driver, which was Rodriguez, started a police chase b...
Read More
Body of 19-year-old missing from Westmoreland found in Essex
No Comments
Popular

Body of 19-year-old missing from Westmoreland found in Essex

The body of Gabriella Watkins, a 19-year-old who went missing in early December, has been located, Westmoreland County Sheriff’s Office confirmed. As previously reported, Watkins had been missing since December 6. She was found Tuesday, January 28, amid an “extensive search” of an Essex County property that involved six local and state agencies, WCSO reported. A search warrant had been obtained for a large tract of land adjacent to Church Hill Road and Desha Road, WCSO revealed. Authorities began the operation about 8 a.m. and a body was located at approximately 11:50 a.m. Desha Rd & Church Hill Rd aerial view (Photo: Google Earth) Intersection of Church Hill (straight) and Desha (left) (Photo: Google Earth) It was announced that the body was being transported to the chi...
Read More
Chesterfield, VA fugitive found in village in upstate NY
No Comments
News, Popular

Chesterfield, VA fugitive found in village in upstate NY

Hasimba C. Brown, a 41-year-old Richmond, VA man who is wanted for a list of violent crimes, was caught in an upstate New York village. Wednesday afternoon, Robert Maciol, Sheriff of Oneida County, NY confirmed Brown, is in custody and being held with no bond. According to Maciol, the United States Marshal’s Service Capital Region Fugitive Task Force began coordinating with the United States Marshal’s Service New York / New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force – Utica Division in mid-January on the mission to find and apprehend Brown who is currently on parole in Virginia for a manslaughter conviction in New York and also wanted in Chesterfield. After an investigation, on Tuesday, January 21, authorities apprehended Brown in the Village of Whitesboro, a small upstate NY locality wi...
Read More
Chesapeake Regional Medical Center charged for federal healthcare fraud
No Comments
Popular

Chesapeake Regional Medical Center charged for federal healthcare fraud

Chesapeake Regional Medical Center (CRMC) has been hit with federal charges for healthcare fraud associated with the unnecessary surgeries performed by the now-convicted Dr. Javaid Perwaiz. Perwaiz convicted Based on the evidence at his trial in 2020, Perwaiz performed irreversible hysterectomies, improper sterilizations, and other medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures on patients from at least 2010 and 2019. During that period, Perwaiz caused approximately $20.8 million dollars in losses to private and government health care insurers, court documents show. “In many instances, Perwaiz would falsely tell his patients that they needed the surgeries because they had cancer, or to avoid cancer, in order to induce them to agree to the surgeries. Many of the surgeries occurred ...
Read More
Martinsville, VA doctor convicted of 467 federal drug charges
No Comments
News, Popular

Martinsville, VA doctor convicted of 467 federal drug charges

After 16 hours of deliberation, a jury in the U.S. District Court in Abingdon found Dr. Joel Smithers guilty of 467 counts of federal drug violations. Those charges stemmed from Smithers, a doctor based in Martinsville, illegally prescribing Schedule II drugs including oxymorphone, oxycodone, hydromorphone, and fentanyl. “Patients trust doctors to make decisions based on their healthcare needs, not a perversion of their own greed,” Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said after the conviction. “For many years, this defendant betrayed the trust placed in him by his patients, his community, and the medical profession as a whole through his illegal distribution of thousands of medically unnecessary opioids. According to evidence presented at trial, after Smithers opened the ...
Read More
After large seizure of explosives in Smithfield, Feds trying to block suspect’s release
No Comments
Popular

After large seizure of explosives in Smithfield, Feds trying to block suspect’s release

The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) is working to keep 36-year-old Brad Kenneth Spafford in custody after claiming the search of his farm in Smithfield led to what may be “the largest seizure by number of finished explosive devices in FBI history.” Spafford was arrested on December 17 and charged with a single count of possession of an unregistered short-barrel rifle. However, federal court documents show, in addition to that gun, the FBI located more than 150 homemade improvised explosive devices deemed as pipe bombs. Some were “preloaded into an apparent wearable vest.” Most of the devices were found in a detached garage but some were in bedroom in the house Spafford shared with his wife and two children in a completely unsecured backpack labeled “#nolivesma...
Read More
16-year-old allegedly caught trying steal 23 guns after Virginia Beach break-in
No Comments
Popular

16-year-old allegedly caught trying steal 23 guns after Virginia Beach break-in

A 16-year-old from Chesapeake was caught allegedly trying to steal 23 guns from a firearms dealer in Virginia Beach. At approximately 1:16 a.m. on December 14, the firearms dealer called in to report a burglary in process at his business in the 900 block of Reon Dr., Virginia Beach Police Dept. stated. When officers arrived at the scene, they caught the teenager still inside. VBPD is applauding the business owner’s decision to install surveillance cameras. “We are incredibly thankful the owner implemented surveillance cameras in his business,” said VBPD Chief Paul Neudigate. “As a result, he was able to discover the crime in progress and quickly alert law enforcement. Our officers were able to immediately respond and arrest the subject. In doing so, they prevented 23 firearms that...
Read More