Charlottesville’s hotshot investigative reporter Reed Williams has a lengthy story in today’s Progress about lying ex-deputy Stephen Shiflett, including interviews with candidates for Albemarle Sheriff, ex-sheriffs, and anonymous sources close to the case. Sheriff Edgar Robb acknowledges that his actions and those of also-Republican Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos look suspicious, but insists that the two are not in cahoots. One of Robb’s opponents in the November election questions Robb’s judgement in hiring the “cop with an attitude”, which Robb has defended by saying that Shiflett was not only quite punctual, but had never actually been convicted of a crime. (It was a civil suit that Shiflett lost while a Louisa deputy, not a criminal case.) Concludes retired county detective and former deputy Donald Byers, “it’s kind of hard for me to understand that there’s not enough evidence for him to be charged.” Be sure to read the whole story for all of the details.
cvillenews.com
empty writes: Today at 5:00 PM I tuned to WINA for the top of the hour news, but heard instead what seemed to be a Schoolhouse Rock parody with lyrics pretty rough for talk AM (“a noun can be a person, like a hooker, or a pimp,” for example, approximately). This was followed by the techno hit “Sandstorm” by DaRude, and then several minutes of silence. Malicious operator? Pirate prank? Format experiment? It wasn’t quite as weird as the time WVIR broadcast porn, but it still caught my attention.
With music like that, I would definitely spend more time listening to WINA than just a half-hour in the morning.
In today’s Daily Progress, Reed Williams has followed up on the case of the lying deputy, looking into Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos’ selective enforcement of laws against filing false police reports. Camblos says that ex-Deputy Stephen Shiflett hasn’t been charged because Shiflett hadn’t confessed. Reed Williams found that in there have been 17 incidents of false reports in the last 18 months, with charges being filed in 12 of them. Only 9 of those 12 charges involved confessions from the accused. Interestingly, there was enough evidence that Shiflett was lying for Sheriff Robb to apologize to the black community for Shiflett’s false accusation that that he was shot by a black man, and enough evidence for the county police to declare that Shiflett had lied, but not enough for Camblos to bring charges.
Just 16 months after it was announced, SNL Financial held the grand opening of their new headquarters, the old National Ground Intelligence Center building, on Thursday. The 270-employee company has signed a 33-year lease for the city-owned building, in addition to paying the $5MM to renovate the hulking structure. Employees will start to move the few blocks to the new building on Monday. SNL doesn’t yet know what they’ll do with their massive, soon-to-be-vacant building on the Downtown Mall. Courteney Stuart has the story in this week’s Hook, and Liz Nelson in Thursday’s Progress.
The Courtyard by Marriott hotel on West Main was evacuated on Wednesday after police discovered a meth lab in a guest’s room in the hotel. They went there after being tipped off by somebody that was busted with a similar setup out in the Fluvanna woods on Tuesday night. 40 guests and staffers were made to leave the building during the clean-up; crystal meth is made of some fairly unpleasant stuff. Austin Graham had the story in Thursday’s Progress.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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