Looking to clear your criminal record? Some of Alexandria’s top legal minds will meet next month for a free expungement clinic in the city’s West End.
The clinic will be held at Patrick Henry Recreation Center (4653 Taney Avenue) on Oct. 18 (Saturday) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with volunteer pro bono attorneys, as well as Del Charniele Herring (D-4), Sheriff Sean Casey, Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter, Circuit Court Clerk Greg Parks, and Public Defender Megan Thomas.
Welcome to Friday, Alexandria! Here’s our recap of the most-read stories.
Our top story this week is on two Alexandria business owners charged with possession of an illegal gambling device for operating skill games. The news marks the first indictments against Alexandria business owners for the devices. Dozens of skill game machines operate at multiple convenience and grocery stores in the West End and Arlandria neighborhoods, despite police hand-delivering warning letters to more than a dozen offending businesses. Skill games were outlawed as illegal gaming by the Virginia legislature in 2020, and Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter told ALXnow that his office is assessing “all potential investigative leads.”
An Alexandria man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for a “high-level drugs conspiracy that shipped significant amounts of narcotics” into Virginia, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
Adrian Bryce Roberts, 41, was sentenced to 12 years of active incarceration on July 28 after being convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl, and transporting more than an ounce of narcotics into the state, according to Porter’s office.
A 26-year-old Washington, D.C. man has pleaded guilty to felony charges related to the attempted abduction and rape of a woman in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood.
Dykwon Perry Davis pleaded guilty in Alexandria Circuit Court on August 7, 2025, to abduction with the intent to defile and attempted rape for the incident, which occurred on February 3, 2024. He faces up to life in prison for the abduction charge, and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the rape charge, according to a press release from Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
Alexandria’s Commonwealth Attorney Bryan Porter isn’t facing opposition this November.
In fact, Porter has never faced opposition in any of his elections. He took office in 2014 and spent his first two years consumed with the prosecution of Alexandria serial killer Charles Severance. Porter later wrote a book about the experience.
It’s going to be a smooth election season for Alexandria’s Democrat Commonwealth Attorney Bryan Porter and Sheriff Sean Casey.
No Republicans or other Democrats filed respective primary bids for both seats by the April deadline. That means that the only opposition the Porter and Casey face is from write-in candidates on election day in November, according to the city registrar’s office.
With enforcement at a trickle, the Alexandria Police Department has started seizing skill games machines.
That hasn’t stopped local businesses from carrying the illegal gambling devices. On a recent Saturday, two convenience stores and a restaurant in the city’s Arlandria neighborhood were packed with groups of mostly men playing the games.
After a four-day trial, a jury this week ignored an insanity defense and found an Alexandria man guilty of murdering an acquaintance in the BJ’s Wholesale Club in 2021.
On Wednesday, March 5, Rakibul Fakir, was convicted of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of 29-year-old Abiy Zemene inside the store at 101 S. Van Dorn Street on Sept. 25, 2021.
A 32-year-old Alexandria man has been found guilty for pimping out his girlfriend from his apartment.
Orayl Ingram was convicted on Feb. 28 for pandering and sex trafficking. He is currently being held without bond in the city jail, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each offense. His sentencing is scheduled for June 5.
It was a picturesque day in Old Town for Alexandria’s 42nd annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Temperatures were crisp in the 60s, as King Street near City Hall was awash in orange, green and white.
A 29-year-old man was sentenced to 53 years in prison for murdering his roommate by shooting him in the head as he left for work in the West End.
Dontae Lashaun Drumgold was convicted in May of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a murder in the 2022 death of 25-year-old Elijah Williams. On Thursday (Jan. 9), he was sentenced to 60 years for the first degree murder charge, with 10 years suspended, and three years for the use of a firearm charge. After his release he will undergo five years of supervised probation and must exhibit uniform good behavior for 10 years.
