After an early March trip to the state capitol on behalf of his “grassroots” lobby group Generation Y, 27-year-old Michael Pudhorodsky is now in Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail awaiting sentencing for a 2006 felony charge of credit card theft and a related misdemeanor for failing to appear last May.
 Michael Pudhorodsky, who failed to appear in court on charges of credit card theft, was picked up in Richmond by Capital Hill police. |
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According to Lieutenant Randall Howard of the Virginia Capitol Police, an anonymous tip was received on March 5 alerting them to the presence of the fugitive near Richmond’s Capitol Hill. Shortly thereafter, Officer Tony Gulotta took Pudhorodsky into custody and notified Albemarle County police, which extradited him from Richmond.
Pudhorodsky, a former employee of the HIV/AIDS Service Group, gained brief notice in January for vowing to pursue Alvin Edwards, a city School Board member, former mayor and current Mt. Zion pastor, for his support of Jonathan Spivey. Spivey, former choir director not only at Charlottesville High School but at Edwards’ church, pleaded guilty in 2007 to several charges of sexual misconduct with CHS students. When reports surfaced of Pudhorodsky’s outstanding criminal charges, he went underground until his appearance and subsequent apprehension in Richmond.
Only last week, Pudhorodsky was able to resolve a felony charge of trying to sell stolen property in the city. In 2003, he was found guilty of writing a number of bad checks and a year later was convicted on a petty larceny charge.
“We all make our mistakes,” said Pudhorodsky in early January. On March 19, he entered an official guilty plea for his county charge of credit card theft, and a misdemeanor for failing to appear.
On March 27, he will receive a bond hearing to determine if he can be released from jail until his May 20 sentencing. According to his lawyer, William Tanner, Pudhorodsky is likely looking at a maximum of six months for stealing a Discover credit card and going on an attendant shopping spree.
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