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Virginia school board member charged for Jan. 6 at the Capitol
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Virginia school board member charged for Jan. 6 at the Capitol

A Frederick County School Board Member has been hit with federal charges for activities in Washington DC at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The allegations outlined in the criminal complaint against Miles B. Adkins, in many cases, are corroborated by self-incriminating evidence he shared via Facebook. For example, the FBI was able to determine that he planned to go to Washington DC because he discussed the trip ahead of time with a friend and offered that individual a ride, Adkins’ Facebook messages show. And authorities know that he not only went to DC but also to the Capitol because, in addition to open-source video and closed circuit video, they have pictures and video he sent via social media while in the building, the complaint notes. An FBI Special Agent who inv...
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Sumerduck woman facing involuntary manslaughter for death of Charlottesville woman
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Sumerduck woman facing involuntary manslaughter for death of Charlottesville woman

Shannon Piper Day, a 37-year-old Sumerduck woman, is being held in Fauquier Adult Detention Center after being charged for a fatal crash last weekend. It was Saturday, March 2, at around 10:26 p.m. and Day was driving a 2018 Ford Explorer heading west on Shipps Tore Rd. (Rt. 637), VSP reported. She was about ½ mile west of Marsh Rd. when she failed to make it around a curve. VSP said Day ran off the right side of the road and crashed into a tree. Her passenger, Claire E. Caruso, a 50-year-old Charlottesville woman, died at the scene from her injuries although, she was wearing a seatbelt, according to police. (Photo: FCSO) Day, who was also wearing a seatbelt, suffered minor injuries but refused treatment, according to VSP. Her mugshot shows abrasions on her forehead and mark...
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Twice-extradited Maryland man sentenced on child predator charges in VA
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Twice-extradited Maryland man sentenced on child predator charges in VA

John Raff, a 42-year-old Perryville, MD man, was extradited to Virginia twice in connection with a case involving him soliciting someone he believed to be a minor. This month, he was finally sentenced. Raff’s charges date back a decade. Amid an investigation by Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (NOVA-DC ICAC), in 2014, Raff was arrested in Maryland and extradited to Virginia. After that arrest, Raff posted bond and left the country. According to Virginia State Police, he went to Egypt, which resulted led to a multi-agency effort to get him back on U.S. soil. The Rockingham Commonwealth’s Attorney's Office and Virginia State Police along with the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, INTERPOL, the U.S. Department of Justice...
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Investigation underway for fatal single-vehicle crash in York County
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Investigation underway for fatal single-vehicle crash in York County

Virginia State Police are investigating a fatal, single-vehicle crash in York County that occurred on Friday afternoon. At around 4:30 p.m. VSP troopers responded to the 3000 block of Goodwin Neck Road, which is north of Back Creek Park. Based on preliminary investigations, VSP determined that 30-year-old Aaron Eli Hoopingarner of Yorktown. was traveling northbound on Goodwin Neck Road. He got into the southbound lanes to attempt to pass two vehicles but he ran off the road and hit a traffic sign. After hitting the sign, VSP said it appears the man tried to regain control but he overcorrected. He ran off the road again, hit a tree, and was killed upon impact. VSP reported that  Hoopingarner was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the vehicle. The man’s speed was a c...
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Suspect in Brooklyn crimes killed in Virginia Beach police chase
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Suspect in Brooklyn crimes killed in Virginia Beach police chase

The man killed last week in a Virginia Beach crash during a police chase was from New York. He was driving a stolen vehicle and was listed as a suspect in a violent crime that occurred the day he died, VSP announced. The police chase began last Friday, February 23, just shy of 8:30 p.m. State Police attempted to stop a 2024 black Chevrolet pickup truck for reckless driving because the vehicle was reportedly going 92 mph in a 55 mph zone. The truck was heading south on Rt. 13 in Exmore, a town on the Eastern Shore, and refused to stop, VSP stated. Instead, the truck initiated a police chase and Northampton County officer joined VSP to assist. VSP said in the midst of the pursuit, it was determined that the truck was stolen out of New York. When the chase got to the Chesapeake Ba...
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2 roads in King William have reopened
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2 roads in King William have reopened

VDOT announced the completion of two projects this week in King William that allowed roadways to reopen. Jacks Creek Rd. On Monday, VDOT reopened the closed portion of Rt. 629 (Jacks Creek Road). Construction began last August to install a new concrete box culvert was installed to replace the original structure, which consisted of three corrugated metal drainage pipes built in 1943. Although this project is complete, VDOT advises drivers to expect rough ride with loose gravel. Crews are slated to return in mid-March to pave. Bridge over Herring Creek Herring Creek Rd. Today, March 1, Rt. 604 (Herring Creek Road) reopened to through traffic following the repair of the bridge over Herring Creek. For this project, the bridge was closed in December while crews were addr...
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Traffic pattern changes on Rt. 17 in Spotsylvania starting today
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Traffic pattern changes on Rt. 17 in Spotsylvania starting today

Drivers in Spotsylvania who use Rt. 17 should be aware that a temporary traffic shift near I-95 went into effect today, March 1. Southbound traffic on Rt. 17 will be shifted slightly to the right to cross the new overpass of I-95. The shift is to allow construction crews the space to finish building the median of the new four-lane interstate overpass. And the new pattern will remain in place until construction is complete on the road widening and bridge replacement project. Northbound Route 17 traffic will continue to cross the original I-95 overpass. Construction on the $23.5 million project began in Dec. 2020 and was scheduled to be completed in late February 2024, but now the completion date is anticipated in May 2024, according to VDOT As part of the project, a shared-us...
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Authorities warning deadly overdoses rising in northwest VA
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Authorities warning deadly overdoses rising in northwest VA

The Northwest Regional Drug & Gang Task Force is sounding the alarm on a spike of overdoses and overdose deaths in the northwestern corner of Virginia in recent weeks. And, it appears fentanyl is the suspected culprit. “The past few weeks have made the threat we face from fentanyl apparent,” said Chief Kahle Magalis with the Front Royal Police Department. “We want to caution the public and make them aware of exactly how lethal fentanyl can be." According to the Task Force, between Feb. 10 and Feb. 24, there have been 11 overdoses with five leading to death. That compares to only one death and five total overdoses from the beginning of the year until Feb. 10. Meanwhile, as overdoses and drug fatalities are rising, the Task Force is reportedly catching a lot more fentanyl in its...
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Feds snag 88 lbs. of hash at Dulles amid focus on marijuana shipments
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Feds snag 88 lbs. of hash at Dulles amid focus on marijuana shipments

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) say they’ve uncovered “an increasing trend” of U.S. marijuana growers and retailers shipping products to Europe and Africa where high-quality weed earns them several times the U.S. price. Because of that, CBP is ramping up efforts to intercept those shipments. And it was “during one of these outbound inspections targeted on seizing marijuana,” that CBP officers found nearly 88 pounds of hashish in checked bags at Dulles, the agency reported. On Monday, officers retrieved 28 vacuum-sealed bags of brown bricks in three suitcases that were being loaded onto a flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil. The material field tested as positive for hashish, CBP reported. The traveler associated with those bags was Johnathan Edward Perez, a California resident, an...
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Northern Neck man pleads guilty to $2.4 million in bank fraud at Primis
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Northern Neck man pleads guilty to $2.4 million in bank fraud at Primis

James Stevens, a former Primis employee, is facing a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud. The 46-year-old man from Weems worked for the bank from 2002 to 2023, although, over that period, the bank was sold several times and operated under different names. According Stevens' own admission in federal court documents, from about 2008 up until his departure from Primis in 2023, he was exploiting his position to get money for himself, for others, and to pay fraudulent loans he was making at the bank. Stevens last position at the bank was as commericial lender. His “primary method” of fraud was issuing loans in other people’s names, the court documents state. For example, he admitted that he originated at least $530,000 in loans in the nam...
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