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Courts and Crime

  • Shana Witt enters no contest plea to 1st degree murder charge

        When Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Krantz initially described the details of the death of Jordan Smith—the child smothered by his own mother in February 2014—he said such a crime, “rips your heart out.”

        For Jordan Smith’s paternal grandmother that was apparent Friday, as she clutched a picture of her grandson as she left court.
        Now, that the woman who committed the crime has been found guilty, Krantz hopes maybe some healing might begin.

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  • WDBJ releases statement on employment history of shooter; Reporter and photographer killed during live interview; gunmen dies after shooting himself

     

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    Statement of Jeffrey Marks, president and general manager, WDBY Television Inc. on employment of Vester Flanagan at the station

     

     

    Vester Flanagan was employed by WDBJ7 as a reporter between March 2012 and February 2013. Flanagan applied for the position using the air name of Bryce Williams. As part of WDBJ's standard protocol his background check resulted in positive references.

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  • Police investigate shooting into car

        Bedford Police are investigating a shooting incident that occurred July 25 in the 600 block of North Street.
        According to Chief Todd Foreman a gun was fired at the back of a vehicle in that area. Police responded to reports of two or three gunshots being fired.
        One person was injured in the vehicle, apparently from a small laceration caused by glass. The bullet was lodged in the seat.

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  • Caregiver faces charges

        A 37-year-old Lynchburg woman, working as a caregiver at Carriage Hill, has been charged with malicious wounding and felony abuse of an incapacitated adult causing injury.
        Andrea Nicole Richmond-Smith was arrested Aug. 11, following an investigation of a July 3 incident that occurred with an 82-year-old female patient at Carriage Hill, according to Bedford Police Chief Todd Foreman.

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  • Body Camp lawsuit dropped

        A lawsuit alleging that racism played a role in the school board’s decision to close Body Camp Elementary School has been dropped.
        “We had to let it go due to financial problems,” said Penny Berger, the Body Camp parent and volunteer who helped organize the lawsuit.
        Berger said the group had been told that it would cost another $20,000, plus $5,000 for depositions, plus court costs, to pursue the lawsuit. They dropped the suit because they didn’t have the money to proceed.

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  • Attempted murder for hire

    Kevin Christopher Colgan will spend 10 years in prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill his estranged wife.

        The hit man turned out to be an undercover police officer. Colgan pleaded no contest, in March, to the charge of solicitation to commit murder.
        Colgan took the stand during his sentencing hearing Tuesday morning in Bedford County Circuit Court. He said the divorce was hard for him.
        “I never planned to get a divorce,” he said.

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  • Charges against former PE teacher not moving forward

        The cases against a former physical education teacher with Bedford County Public Schools charged with  three counts of aggravated sexual battery of students while he was working at Montvale Elementary School won’t be prosecuted—at least for now, according to Bedford County Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Krantz.
        The incidents allegedly occurred in 2011 and 2012 during gym classes at the school, but because of issues with the three alleged victims testifying, the case is not moving ahead.

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  • More arrests in Lyon sisters case

    A multi-jurisdictional grand jury investigating the abduction of two sisters in 1975 in Maryland has indicted three more individuals in the case for their alleged roles in impeding the investigation.

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  • Bedford County woman arrested for abduction, malicious wounding after posting ad on Craigslist for sex

    Last Wednesday, July 22, deputies with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 5000 block of Old Country Road in Bedford in reference to an assault call.
    According to a news release from the Sheriff's Office, deputies spoke to a male victim who was suffering from numerous cuts and lacerations. The victim told the deputies that he had responded to a Craigslist.com ad offering sexual services by a subject identifying herself as “Trinity,” and he had arranged with her to meet at her residence in the 5000 block of Old Country Road.

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  • Bedford man charged with aggravated sexual battery

        A 66-year-old Bedford man has been charged with aggravated sexual battery following a June 27 incident investigated by the Bedford Police Department.
        Lewis William Hall, who lives in the Pinecrest Apartments, was arrested after police investigated a complaint.
        When police arrived to investigate a dispute, an intoxicated female told officers that someone had been on top of her, having non-consensual sex with her while she had been asleep, according to Chief Todd Foreman of the Bedford Police Department.

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