Helenia Bragg had few options.
After getting arrested last year in her Old Town home for possession with intent to distribute Schedule II drugs, the Alexandria native faced a minimum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000. Bragg previously spent the greater part of 20 years incarcerated for three possession charges, and had been clean and sober for eight years before falling off the wagon.
A Virginia man was sentenced to a year-and-a-half in prison this week for embezzling more than a half million dollars from ABM Industries.
John Babsa, a 34-year-old former manager of the Northern Virginia branch of New York-based ABM Industries, pleaded guilty to one count of felony embezzlement at his July 27 trial. The former manager also paid $583,000 in restitution directly to ABM Industries via his attorney.
After more than 40 years as a cold case, charges were brought against a 63-year-old Maryland man for the rape and murder of a woman with strong ties to Alexandria.
Vickie Lynn Belk was 28 years old when she was found murdered in Charles County, Maryland, on August 29, 1979. The mother of a seven-year-old boy was raped and fatally shot and her case lingered for decades until last November, when a DNA match was made with 63-year-old Andre Taylor, who lived four miles from where Belk’s body was recovered at the time of her death.
A 56-year-old Maryland man faces multiple charges after allegedly planting peephole cameras in bathroom air vents in Alexandria and Baltimore restaurants, and then attempting to extort money from the owners by pretending to be a customer who found the cameras.
The Alexandria incident goes back to March 2022, when the suspect called the police from the Tempo restaurant (4231 Duke Street) and reported a hidden camera attached to a vent over the toilet in the men’s room, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
A 17-year-old former Alexandria City High School student was found guilty Tuesday for last year’s fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Luis Mejia Hernandez in the parking lot of the Bradlee Shopping Center.
Judge James C. Clark found the teen guilty of second-degree murder and murder by mob and said that the case is a tragedy for all involved. The defendant sat silently as Clark rendered his decision at the conclusion of the two-day bench trial. He faces between five-to-40 years in prison for the second-degree murder charge and five-to-40 years for the murder by mob, or lynching, charge.
The 17-year-old male suspect facing murder charges in last year’s fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Luis Mejia Hernandez was implicated by damning evidence police found on his phone, according to evidence presented Monday.
Monday’s bench trial will continue into today for the defense to present their case, and a speedy verdict on second degree murder and murder by mob charges is expected from Judge James C. Clark. The suspect faces between five-to-40 years in prison for the second degree murder charge and five-to-40 years for the murder by mob, or lynching, charge.
Multiple people from DC, Maryland and Virginia have been charged with felonies in Alexandria within the last several months as part of an alleged scheme to get driver’s and commercial driver’s licenses with forged documents, ALXnow has learned.
On May 5, 2022, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles discovered fraudulent out-of-state driving records being used to get driver’s licenses and commercial driver’s licenses, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit filed in the Alexandria Circuit Court by DMV’s law enforcement division.
(Updated 2:45 p.m.) A 28-year-old Prince William County man was arrested for the murder of a 25-year-old more than a year ago, the Alexandria Police Department announced today.
Dontae LaShawn Drumgold is being held without bond in connection with the death of Elijah Williams in March 2022.
A 56-year-old Alexandria woman was sentenced to 41 months in prison for ordering more than $600,000 in cell phones through her former employer, the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, and keeping the money.
The former office manager at YMCA-DC was sentenced Thursday, according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice. According to court documents, she worked at YMCA-DC from 2007 until her termination in May 2019.
(Updated 5:30 p.m.) A 45-year-old Fairfax County man was sentenced to 10 years in prison last Thursday for a 2022 crash on Duke Street that killed a Fairfax County man and injured four others.
Carlos Kami Adar McKethan pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and driving under the influence of drugs in connection with the death of 39-year-old Bizuayehu Bulti on the night of Feb. 22, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.
Alexandria Police arrested two men last month and, according to affidavits, recovered a large number of illegal narcotics, cash and other items.
The investigation into the suspects began in November, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
