Tag: richard wellbeloved-stone

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In brief: Bigfoot erotica, council infighting (again), white supremacist infighting and more

Leslie Cockburn captured this screenshot of opponent Denver Riggleman.

Bigfoot erotica

Fifth District Democratic candidate Leslie Cockburn called opponent Denver Riggleman a devotee of “Bigfoot erotica” because of images of Bigfoot with a black bar over its genitals on Riggleman’s Instagram account. Riggleman, who co-authored a book on the legendary ape-like creature, said the images are a joke from his friends, and returned fire at Cockburn’s 1991 book on U.S. relations with Israel, which Republicans have called “anti-Semitic.”

Quote of the week

“This is an attempt to put me in my place.”—Mayor Nikuyah Walker on Facebook after fellow councilors ask if she should recuse herself from the selection of a new city manager because she’s a temporary parks & rec employee

Zemp’s response

Sidney Zemp, the man who was offered the interim city manager position, which sparked a major outcry from Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who denounced the selection process and read his resumé aloud on Facebook Live, cited “the controversy contrived by the mayor and her questionable motivations” as a reason for turning down the offer. Assistant City Manager Mike Murphy was named interim city manager hours before Maurice Jones left the position July 31.

Profs resign

Two UVA history professors—William Hitchcock and Melvyn Leffler—resigned from the Miller Center in protest of its offering a senior fellowship to former Trump legislative affairs director Marc Short. Both Hitchcock and Leffler are tenured and retain positions in the history department.

Creepy teacher sentenced

Richard Wellbeloved-Stone

When former Charlottesville High School science teacher Richard Wellbeloved-Stone was sentenced in federal court July 30 to 23 years in prison for one count of production of child pornography, it was revealed that he had also taken more than 100 photos up students’ skirts and down students’ shirts from 2012 to 2014, which could warrant more charges.

 

Teacher killer sentenced

The man charged in the involuntary manslaughter death of Western Albemarle music teacher Eric Bretthauser in 2016 was sentenced to three years in prison. Aaron Johnson of Richmond initially was charged with manslaughter while driving under the influence.

No prison time

Stephen Dalton Baril

In a case that has been picked up across the country, Stephen Dalton Baril—an ex-UVA student and grandson of John Dalton, the former Republican governor who served Virginia from 1978 to 1982—had his felony rape and sodomy charge reduced to misdemeanor sexual battery and felony unlawful wounding in exchange for an Alford plea. “You raped me whether you want to hear it or not,” the victim said. He’ll serve five years of supervised probation.

 

It’s an alt-right infight

While it’s become clear over the past year that Jason Kessler isn’t the most popular guy in town, he’s also not the most popular among white nationalist internet trolls. And his decision to allow people of color to volunteer at the Unite the Right reunion planned for D.C. and his apparent ban on neo-Nazis at the event aren’t helping. A quick perusal of snippets from social media site Gab—where many white supremacists flee when Twitter gives them the boot—gives insight into what they’re arguing about these days.

 

 

Doggy duty

courtesy draftsman hotel

There’s a new employee at the Draftsman Hotel and this one has fur.

Meet Bulleit Rye Whiskey, the resident Wheaton terrier who was born 21 miles from the hotel at Shady Lane Family Farm in Free Union, and who clocks his hours by greeting guests and their pets.

The Draftsman, the 11-story, 150-room upscale boutique hotel that opened on West Main Street in May, will celebrate its official grand opening this summer—and Bulleit will be there making sure everything goes according to plan.

“Bulleit absolutely loves being around people,” says Draftsman manager and doggy daddy JP Roberts. “He’s thrilled to greet new guests and wander around the library and lobby, but we are most excited about having him interact with the incredibly tough kids next door at UVA Children’s Hospital once he completes his therapy dog certification.”

Bulleit, who bribed us by mailing us a couple beef bourguignon dog treats, has his own message: “I don’t want to brag, but most people say I am a very good boy,” the pooch said in a press release. And his shameless plug?  “I wanted to let everyone know that the Draftsman is open for business and we are having our grand opening on September 20.”

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In brief: Trashy people, rash of convictions, UVA’s warning and more

The 96 groups that have adopted highways in Albemarle can't keep up with the trash tossers. Hawkins Dale

Spring cleaning

As the weather warms, more people are outside and noticing just how trashy our scenic highways are. That’s when local groups that have adopted a highway under the Virginia Department of Transportation don their orange blaze vests and go clean up after their filthy neighbors.

Groups that volunteer are asked to take care of a two-mile stretch of road at least two times a year. After two pickups, the group is eligible to put its name on a blue Adopt-a-Highway sign. VDOT supplies orange trash bags, vests and roll-up signs to warn vehicles a pickup is in process, and will come remove the bags.

Some adopters have been known to abandon their highway, and resident VDOT administrator Joel DeNunzio says if a group hasn’t picked up in a certain amount of time, it can lose its blue signage. “Certain groups may be more interested in having their names on highway signs,” he concedes.

Fortunately that’s the exception, and volunteers are welcome. “I will let anybody adopt any highway I think is safe,” says DeNunzio. “They’re only denied if I don’t think it’s safe. We don’t want to have inexperienced people or kids on dangerous roads.”

  • 96 groups have adopted roads in Albemarle County
  • 192 miles of road are adopted
  • 189 bags of trash have been picked up by volunteers so far this year

Source VDOT

“If the administration remains loudly silent in the face of white supremacy, it will perpetuate the University’s painful and pervasive history of racial violence.”—Petition from UVA students to President Teresa Sullivan and the Board of Visitors April 27, the same day the university issued a no trespass warning to Jason Kessler.

Beating trial begins

Jacob Goodwin

The first of four jury trials in the August 12 malicious wounding of DeAndre Harris got underway April 30. It took six hours to seat a jury for Jacob Goodwin, 23, from Ward, Arkansas. Goodwin’s attorney, Elmer Woodard, admits Goodwin kicked Harris but says that didn’t cause the serious injuries Harris suffered.

Sex trafficker convicted

A trial originally scheduled for five days stretched nearly two weeks before a jury, after deliberating 15 hours, convicted Quincy Edwards, 34, of 10 counts of commercial sex trafficking and of procuring a person for financial gain. The Albemarle jury recommended 22 years in prison. Edwards was arrested in 2015 at the Royal Inn, and his victim said she had sex with as many as 20 men a day for her heroin supply.

Teacher pleads guilty

Richard Wellbeloved-Stone

Popular former CHS environmental sciences teacher Richard Wellbeloved-Stone, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography April 26 in U.S. District Court. He came to law enforcement’s attention while chatting with an undercover agent in the U.K. and describing his fantasies about a prepubescent girl. Police found images of a girl’s vagina on Wellbeloved-Stone’s cell phone.

Garrett’s mandatory minimums

Congressmen Tom Garrett, Jared Polis (D-CO) and Ken Buck (R-CO) introduced the Review Every Act Diligently In Total—READ IT—resolution to amend House rules to establish a mandatory minimum review period for all legislation that is brought to a vote.

Warmbiers sue North Korea

The parents of UVA student Otto Warmbier, who was held in North Korea for 17 months before being returned to the U.S. last June in an unresponsive state, have sued the rogue nation for torturing their son as Kim Jong Un makes nice with South Korea and plans a meeting with President Donald Trump. Warmbier died shortly after his return.

Drugs and horses

Albemarle County Police had a busy April 28 running a drug take-back program at Sentara Martha Jefferson and policing 15,000 racegoers at Foxfield. The number of drugs collected was down from last year, but so were the traffic tickets at Foxfield. Collecting drugs or dealing with drunk UVA students—it’s one way to enjoy a beautiful spring day. Preliminary numbers for those events are:

Foxfield

Spring 2018

  • 15,000 racegoers
  • 5 arrests
  • 31 medical emergencies, 12 known to be alcohol related
  • 3 medical transports to ER
  • 0 traffic tickets

Spring 2017

  • 12,000-14,000 racegoers
  • 5 arrests, including 1 DUI  hit-and-run crash
  • 38 medical emergencies
  • 2 medical transports to ER
  • 19 traffic tickets
  • 1 ticket for marijuana possession

Drug take-back

Spring 2018

  • 364 vehicles
  • 25 bags collected
  • 768 pounds of meds
  • 428 pounds of needles

Spring 2017

  • 413 vehicles
  • 37 bags collected
  • 1,084 pounds of meds
  • 362 pounds of needles
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In brief: Richmond watch, a local avenger, new rules and more

AR-15-style assault rifle outfitted with a bump stock

As the General Assembly finished its fourth week in this year’s session, most of the 3,000 or so bills legislators filed will die in subcommittee, but some are inching toward the governor’s desk for signature into law.

Killed bills:

Danger zone

After a bill to ban the devices used in the Las Vegas concert slaughter passed a Senate Courts of Justice Committee, a Senate Finance subcommittee killed the measure. Other gun safety bills have met a similar fate.

Tebow down for the count

The 13th time was not the charm for Delegate Rob Bell’s bill to allow homeschooled kids to play in public school sports. The past few years it’s made it to the governor’s desk, where it was vetoed, but this year, it died in committee.

Local statue option

A House of Delegates subcommittee smothered several bills January 31 that would have allowed cities like Charlottesville to decide what to do with their Confederate monuments, including one carried by House Minority Leader David Toscano. The Senate had already nixed letting localities determine the fate of their monuments.

Staying alive:

Child porn hearings closed

Toscano’s bill to close child pornography preliminary hearings to protect victims passed the House of Delegates 98-0, but raises freedom of the press issues. A Fluvanna deputy suggested the measure when he realized those sitting in the balcony of a courthouse could have seen images of victims, a scenario not likely in balcony-less Charlottesville and Albemarle courts, where the public was eager to learn details in cases such as that of former CHS teacher Richard Wellbeloved-Stone.

Let doctors decide pot prescriptions

The Senate unanimously passed a bill February 5 that allows physicians to prescribe  cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil for any condition, not just intractable epilepsy, which is already on the books. The House passed its own version of the bill February 2. TBD: where patients with prescriptions actually buy the approved marijuana products.

Kings Dominion overthrow

Two bills that would allow localities to determine if schools open before Labor Day and that rescind the Kings Dominion law passed the House.

 

Quote of the Week: It’s a movement where 30 people with cheap tiki torches can seem like an army in the echo chamber of social media, where white men claim to be the real victims and where a weekend warrior can pass himself off as a disillusioned veteran of war.—How an Alt-right Leader Lied to Climb the Ranks, a New York Times documentary on Eli Mosley

West2nd

SUP with West2nd

City Council denied a special use permit at its February 5 meeting for developer Keith Woodard to add a 10th floor to his multimillion-dollar mixed-use project called West2nd.

Council changes

Meetings will now begin half an hour earlier at 6:30pm, and community members will be permitted to speak more than once at each session. Speakers will not be able to give their allotted time to another person, but they may now share it. As for the kill switch? Council is now required to livestream on public access TV through any disruption.

Oath of office

Katrina Callsen. Contributed photo

Katrina Callsen, the Albemarle County School Board member whose campaign drew controversy last year because of her association with Teach for America and massive donations from its affiliates, was one of several women featured on the cover of a January issue of Time magazine. The article, called “The Avengers,” highlighted the trend of women running for office since Donald Trump’s election.

Lambeth lives

After mass opposition, UVA’s Board of Visitors will no longer consider historic Lambeth Field as a location for its proposed softball stadium, university officials announced at the January 29 BOV meeting. Three alternate locations include the Park, which is located on North Grounds, a soccer practice field near Klockner Stadium and a parking lot at University Hall.

Friends of Harvey

A new women’s group goes after UVA alum/mega-donor/billionaire Paul Tudor Jones for supporting Harvey Weinstein and for saying childbearing is a focus “killer” for women traders and investors. Women United collected signatures to remove his name from UVA buildings at the January 31 men’s basketball game at John Paul Jones Arena, named for Jones’ father.

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More child porn charges for former CHS teacher

Rick Wellbeloved-Stone picked up two additional child porn charges in federal court. Photo Charlottesville police

Richard Wellbeloved-Stone sat in federal court this morning, often with his head in his hands, as he waited for an initial appearance before a judge on additional charges of child pornography production and child porn possession, on top of the 19 counts of making child porn he faces in state court.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe found probable cause to move the case to a grand jury after the former Charlottesville High environmental sciences teacher, 57, waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Hoppe also found that Wellbeloved-Stone qualified for court-appointed counsel because his assets are marital property and his wife has filed for a divorce. “Given the nature of the charges, I can anticipate significant costs,” said the judge. Attorney Andre Hakes represents Wellbeloved-Stone on the state charges.

Federal public defender Andrea Harris appeared in court with Wellbeloved-Stone, and she did not seek his release on bond. He’s been held in Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail since his arrest July 27.

He came to law enforcement attention in an online chat on KIK Messenger with an undercover officer in the U.K., who passed along details to Homeland Security July 14. According to a court affidavit, Wellbeloved-Stone, using an account named “bijsincville,” described fantasizing about a prepubescent girl whom he had helped get dressed for bed.

Police searched his home July 25 and found an external hard drive containing 10 files with “titles consistent with child pornography,” according to the affidavit. One had a 9-year-old girl and the video focused on her vagina. Another had a 12-year-old girl performing oral sex on her same-aged boyfriend, and police say the girl is known in the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children.

On Wellbeloved-Stone’s iPhone, agents found 20 images of “a pre-pubescent female’s vagina” taken of the girl waist down. Some of the photos show a male hand manipulating the child’s genitalia, and metadata on the phone shows the photos were taken May 18 and May 20. There were also nonsexual photos taken of the girl before the more graphic images, according to the affidavit.

Wellbeloved-Stone appeared in Charlottesville General District Court September 28, where the prosecution dropped one count of child porn possession.