Thursday, June 11WATCHFUL EYE

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Why & how lawmakers aim to protect Virginians from upcoming tax hike
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Why & how lawmakers aim to protect Virginians from upcoming tax hike

In 2018, the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)went into effect. Bloomberg Government described it as “the largest tax code overhaul in nearly three decades.” One thing the TCJA did was to nearly double the standard deduction for federal income taxes. The federal standard deduction for single filers went from $6,350 to $14,600. For married couples filing jointly, the figure rose from $12,700 to $29,200. In 2019, Virginia began raising its standard deduction. A report from the Department of Taxation explained that was done in response to the TCJA. Since that time, the standard deduction for Virginia tax rose from $3,000 for single filers to $8,500. For married couples filing joint, the figure jumped from $6,000 to $17,000. However, both the federal and state increases in stand...
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19-year-old allegedly removed taser prongs & injured 2 Mathews deputies
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Crime, News

19-year-old allegedly removed taser prongs & injured 2 Mathews deputies

A 19-year-old is being held without bond and facing a list of charges after allegedly attacking two Mathews County deputies attempting to arrest him. At approximately 12:30 on January 14, deputies responded to a 911 call for service on Bellevue Road in Susan. Mathews County Sheriff’s Office said witnesses at the scene reported Alberto Cruz Fraire was experiencing bouts of paranoia and walking around the house with a knife. According to MCSO, Fraire grew increasingly frustrated by the police presence, approached one of the deputies, and grabbed his taser. Two officers attempted to place Fraire under arrest, but he reportedly resisted and started fighting the officers. One deputy deployed a taser and successfully made contact with Fraire, but MCSO said he removed the taser prongs fr...
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Chesterfield, VA fugitive found in village in upstate NY
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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...
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Virginia man arrested for allegedly trying to set a car on fire in DC
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Virginia man arrested for allegedly trying to set a car on fire in DC

U.S. Capitol Police said an investigation is underway to determine a Virginia man’s motive for allegedly trying to set a vehicle on fire near the Grant Memorial in DC, which is located at the eastern edge of the National Mall. According to USCP, on Wednesday, at around 5:30 p.m. officers were alerted about a man parked on First Street, NW. He reportedly a lit a bag and left it burning on top of the car, which had been spraypainted. As officers were running toward the man, the bag extinguished on its own, USCP reported. Still, out of an abundance of caution, the car was declared suspicious. The Hazardous Incident Response Division cleared the vehicle, and officials determined that the car was not a danger at approximately 7:00 p.m. However, investigators found the bag contained acc...
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Martinsville, VA doctor convicted of 467 federal drug charges
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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 ...
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VSP investigating fatal crash in Northumberland
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News, Traffic

VSP investigating fatal crash in Northumberland

Virginia State Police is investigating a fatal crash that occurred in Northumberland on Christmas Eve. Details remain limited but VSP said it responded to the incident at about 2 a.m. In Burgess, there as a single-car crash involving a 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt less than one-third of a mile from the intersection of Rt. 360 and Rt. 200. The car ran off the right side of the road, the westbound side, and struck a tree, VSP reported. The driver, Angela Dawn Lewis, a 50-year-old Callao resident, was not wearing her seatbelt and died at the scene from her injuries. This is a developing story. Subscribe for updates. WATCH: +50 Year Olds Busted for Drug House in Gloucester Follow the Watchful Eye on Twitter, Facebook, & Instagram to keep up with what's hap...
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Public aids Suffolk police in arrest of most wanted & alleged church shooter
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Public aids Suffolk police in arrest of most wanted & alleged church shooter

Within days, Suffolk Police arrested suspects in two unrelated shootings, and both arrests were made possible due to help from the community. Micheal McKinley Jr. who Suffolk Police Department as its “#1 most wanted” was arrested on December 11. Suffolk Police named the 22-year-old as the suspect in a shooting incident that occurred on November 29 in the 100 block of Kennet Drive. SPD alleges he shot at two people in a vehicle and an occupied dwelling. No one was injured during this incident, but McKinley already had numerous active violent felony warrants including charges of attempted murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, the department announced. SPD described McKinley as armed and dangerous and called on the public for assistance locating him. After hi...
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Driver seriously injured in New Kent turn-over crash
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News, Traffic

Driver seriously injured in New Kent turn-over crash

The driver of the tractor-trailer that overturned on Pocahontas Trail in New Kent on Tuesday was seriously injured, Virginia State Police Sgt. Jessica Shehan confirmed. The incident occurred around 2 p.m. near the 4100 block of Pocahontas Trail (Route 60) just west of Toe Ink Wayside. Shehan said the driver, Santos Adan Rios Reyes, a 49-year-old Manassas Park man, stated he crashed because he took his eyes off the roadway to grab something inside the vehicle. After he ran off the roadway, he over corrected, overturned and his load spilled in the road. The incident shut down all lanes of Pocahontas Trail eastbound near Toe Ink Wayside with VSP estimating the cleanup to be over 3 hours. Reyes was transported to the hospital. Shehan reported that he was not wearing a seatbelt ...
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Man who escaped ICE facility in Caroline sentenced, now appealing
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Man who escaped ICE facility in Caroline sentenced, now appealing

Dennis Zeledon Hernandez, the Salvadorian man who escaped from Caroline Detention Facility (CDF), was sentenced last Wednesday. But he’s adding to his lengthy legal tennis match with the federal government by filing an appeal. Early years in U.S. Court records show Zeledon Hernandez has a history with the feds that dates back to July 2016 when ICE officials found him near the border in Hidalgo, TX. At that time, he claimed to fear gang members in El Salvador. An asylum officer found he demonstrated credible fear of persecution, and he was served with a Notice to Appear that warned that failure to appear may result in a removal order and arrest, the records state. After several months in ICE detention, Zeledon Hernandez was ordered to be released on bond. Court records show, a mont...
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VDOT testing parking space availability app in Northern VA, could expand to Fredericksburg
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VDOT testing parking space availability app in Northern VA, could expand to Fredericksburg

VDOT is testing the ParkZen app at select parking lots in Northern Virginia and those who participate are eligible for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card. ParkZen is an app that shows the availability of parking spaces in real time. VDOT began testing the app last month. The hope is making it easier to find parking in commuter lots will encourage more people to park and carpool or take public transit. "Commuters have told us that not knowing whether parking is available at commuter lots is a deterrent to using transit, carpools, vanpools, and slugging,” said Amy McElwain, program manager for VDOT’s Office of Strategic Innovations. “We know that taking the guesswork out of parking makes it easier for commuters to get out of their single-occupant vehicles. However, the challenge ha...
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