Tag: virginia

Cops Sneak Onto Man’s Property, Confiscate Surveillance Camera Without a Warrant

In April, a Virginia conservation police officer (known as a “game warden”) walked into the yard of a man named Joshua Highlander, saw a surveillance camera he had set up in his backyard, confiscated it without a warrant, and saved the photos from it.

I heard about Highlander’s case soon after I wrote about a town in Michigan hiring a drone operator to surveil one of its resident’s property. I called Highlander’s lawyer, Joe Gay, and explained that I’d been writing about surveillance for a long time, but wasn’t aware of other cases where law enforcement walked onto private property and confiscated a camera without a warrant. To me, it seemed like such a blatant violation of the man’s Fourth Amendment rights. “Am I missing something here?” I asked.

“No, that’s exactly what happened,” Gay said. “He has a 30-acre property, the warden put on camouflage, they snuck onto the property, they saw he had a trail camera in a field, they took it, they scared his wife and his son, who saw them as they were exiting the property, and they basically rummaged through his camera looking at all the pictures looking for evidence of hunting violations. Game wardens do this thing all the time.”

Conservation police in Virginia are the law enforcement branch of the Department of Wildlife Resources. As Gay mentioned, they enforce hunting rules in the state. Highlander is a deer and turkey hunter who has a series of Tactacam brand cameras on his property that are used to monitor wildlife movements and are popular among hunters.

Highlander was not cited for any sort of violation, but told me that earlier in the day before his camera was seized, he, his brother, and his father each legally shot turkeys elsewhere in the state and logged them (as is required by law) with the Department of Wildlife Resources.

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U.S. Park Police officer unintentionally fatally shoots fellow officer at Virginia gathering

An off-duty U.S. Park Police officer unintentionally shot and killed another off-duty officer over the weekend in Virginia while pulling a trigger on a gun he thought was unloaded, police said.

Alexander Roy, 25, was charged with involuntary manslaughter for killing 22-year-old Jesse Brown Hernandez while they were at a gathering in an apartment in McLean, Virginia, about 10 miles west of Washington, D.C.

Police were called to the scene shortly after midnight on Sunday.

Two others, including another U.S. Park Police officer, were also at the gathering. Police said alcohol is believed to be a factor in the shooting. Roy is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on no bond.

Hernandez was found dead with a gunshot wound to the upper body. The investigation is ongoing and the Fairfax County Police Department is asking anyone with information about the incident to contact them.

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Lawsuit Over Sex-Trafficked Teen Could Stop Schools From Hiding Kids’ Dysphoria

The mother of a Virginia teen sex-trafficked twice after her school concealed her newly asserted gender identity has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against school staff and a Maryland public defender who alleged parental “misgendering” and abuse. The complaint was filed Aug. 22 in the Western District of Virginia court on behalf of Michele Blair by the Child and Parental Rights Campaign (CPRC) with support from the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR).

It alleges that the defendants’ actions—first in withholding vital information about the girl’s gender identification and related assault in the boys’ bathroom, then later by falsely alleging abuse to deprive her mother of custody—resulted in the child’s ordeal at the hands of sexual predators not once, but twice. Blair v. Appomattox et al. will set critical precedents in two areas of roiling national debate: parental notification of gender transition in schools and parental custody relating to gender identity.

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Leader in Richmond Democrat Party group posted bomb threat against Andy Ngo Virginia talk

An official member of the Democrat Party in Richmond, Virginia, posted a bomb threat against journalist Andy Ngo on Friday. 

Jimmie Lee Jarvis, the owner of Mission Control Research and Consulting in Richmond, posted the bomb threat on X ahead of Ngo’s speaking event organized by The Virginia Council and Common Sense Society at the Commonwealth Club in Richmond, Virginia.

The post included an image of dynamite with Jarvis writing in the description box, “On my way to the Andy Ngo event!”

According to the official website of Richmond Democrats, Jimmie Lee Jarvis is listed as an official member of the Richmond City Democratic Committee.

Jarvis’ threat was one of many that came from radical leftists ahead of Ngo’s speaking event, which resulted in two venues pulling out at the last minute.

While Ngo, senior editor of The Post Millennial, explained that the event was ultimately a success after the third venue refused to cave to the coordinated campaign attack of threats issued by Antifa and other far-left activists, Marriott forced the Westin to cancel the venue just hours before it was set to kick off on Friday. Earlier in the week, the Commonwealth Club pulled out from allowing its venue to be used for the event following harassment and threats of violence.

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Just The Tip: AP Gave Dem Porn-Wife Heads-Up Before WaPo Scoop, Allowing Her To Delete Videos

Democratic Virginia political candidate Susanna Gibson, who was outed by the Washington Post for performing sex acts online for cash – and instead of owning up to it cried ‘sex crime!‘, was actually tipped off a week earlier by the Associated Press, which didn’t run the story – allowing her to delete videos before the WaPo piece hit, according to the Daily Wire‘s Luke Rosiak.

Gibson, a 40-year-old nurse practitioner and mother of two, streamed various sex acts on ‘Chaturbate,’ where more than a dozen videos of she and her husband were archived on a publicly available site, Recurbate, in September 2022 after she entered the race. The most recent were two videos archived Sept. 30, 2022, however it’s unclear when the live stream occurred.

Rosiak also reports that Gibson’s online sex acts could have exposed her to prostitution charges, lawyers say.

Virginia law states that “any person who, for money or its equivalent … engages in sexual intercourse” or other sexual acts with another person “is guilty of prostitution, which is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.”

Shawn M. Cline, a former prosecutor and defense attorney in Virginia Beach who represents people charged with sex crimes, said in his view it’s a “chargeable offense.”

“The statute is very clear, you cannot for money or its equivalent perform sex acts,” Cline told The Daily Wire. “It doesn’t matter who’s paying for the act, if it’s an observer or the recipient. You can’t receive money.”

“It would definitely be a chargeable offense,” Cline said. -Daily Wire

What’s more, she could be busted for deliberately causing hotel workers to see her performing sex acts.

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Playground Sign Outlaws ‘Loitering at Slide Entry or Exit’

“Welcome! Play Safe,” reads the sign at a Fairfax County Public School playground in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. The sign also lists a few simple rules—21 of them, by my count.

First off, the playground should never be used when it is frozen. Or wet.

There can be no climbing on things like the safety rails (which are basically just fences). Kids must not wear any clothing with drawstrings, hoods, or toggles while they are playing, because these items could get caught on something. (Ponytails seem grandmothered in.)

On the slide, children must “take turns,” “sit in an upright position,” and “not climb.” There also must be “no loitering at slide entry or exit.”

Loiter not, little ones!

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Student Refuses School’s Order to Remove American Flags from Truck, Switches to Homeschooling

A Virginia teen said his First Amendment rights are being violated after school officials told him to remove the two American flags mounted on his red Toyota Tacoma truck.

Staunton River High School officials told senior Christopher Hartless that the patriotic display was a distraction to other drivers and a safety concern, WSET reported.

“I don’t understand how it’s a distraction if they have one on the flagpole that every other student can see,” Hartless told the news outlet.

His parking pass was revoked. His stepmother, Christina Kingery, said she didn’t want him to take the bus, so his family took him out of the high school and is homeschooling him.

Officials from the high school’s Bedford County school district in  released a statement noting that flying flags on vehicles is against “the student parking contract” that Hartless apparently signed, “which has been used by all 3 of our high schools for many years.”

The school district released a statement regarding the incident to parents regarding the school district’s code of conduct rules:

The BCPS Code of Student Conduct prohibits “Attire that has language or images that are offensive, profane, vulgar, discriminatory, or racially/culturally divisive. This would include confederate flags, swastikas, KKK references, or any other images that might reasonably be considered hurtful or intimidating to others.” It does not include wearing clothing with American flag logos or prints on attire. This attire is allowed.

The statement also noted to parents that the Pledge of Allegiance is recited every morning.

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Worker Fired Over Refusal to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Wins Job Back

The University of Virginia wrongly fired an employee who refused to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new ruling.

The university “acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner” when it fired Kaycee McCoy, a cytotechnologist, in 2021, Virginia District Court Judge Claude Worrell Jr. said in a July 27 ruling.

Ms. McCoy had asked for a religious exemption to the university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, with support from her pastor.

But her employer denied the request and terminated Ms. McCoy in November 2021.

Ms. McCoy quickly took her case to the courts, saying that the refusal to grant an exemption violated Virginia’s Constitution, which states in part that all citizens are “entitled to the free exercise of religion” and that no citizen “shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief.”

The university defended its decision, arguing that the plaintiff’s “personal opinions” and “personal preferences” did not make her entitled to a religious exemption. They also said they did not have to grant her an exemption even if her objection was based on sincere beliefs.

Judge Worrell disagreed, finding in favor of the plaintiff.

Virginia courts uphold governmental actions unless the actions are “arbitrary and capricious” or those taken “without a determining principle,” according to previous court decisions.

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‘Majority Doesn’t Always Dictate’: Fairfax County School Board Ignores 84% Rejection of Gender Ideology

Democrats pose as the champions of democracy—except when democracy doesn’t go their way. After 84% of parents in a Virginia county rejected co-ed sex education and gender ideology in schools, the taxpayer-funded school board dismissively announced that “the majority doesn’t always dictate.”

Fairfax County has been a hotspot of crazy LGBTQ ideology and persecution of concerned parents for quite a while now. Woke or authoritarian nonsense from Fairfax schools includes making false statements about a dress-wearing boy who raped a girl in a school bathroom (before trying to get the victim’s father jailed), pushing pornographic books to kids, and suspending maskless students despite Virginia’s governor having lifted COVID-19 restrictions.

Despite being paid by taxpayer funds and thus being employees of the district’s parents, the school board has rejected poll results showing that parents in the county overwhelmingly reject gender ideology in schools and combining sex education for boys and girls from fourth grade onwards.

The Washington Examiner reported on the Fairfax County Public School board‘s outrageous reaction to parents’ opinions and details of the survey:

In a work session, the Fairfax county school board was presented with a poll showing 84% of parents are against children being taught “Family Life Education” together. It showed, out of the 2,656 respondents, parents overwhelmingly want classes separated by gender.

While students are currently separated based on sex, that could change with the new proposal. It would require co-ed sex education from fourth grade up.

Parents wrote overwhelmingly in the open-ended comments part of the survey that they were against teaching gender ideology in schools.

The county’s school superintendent, Michelle Reid, dismissed the survey’s results with the ridiculous remark: “Honestly, the majority doesn’t always dictate, right?” It does when they’re taxpayers and you’re their employee, Michelle.

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Feds charge Virginia sheriff with selling badges for campaign contributions

The sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia faces federal charges in an alleged scheme to hand out deputy badges in exchange for campaign contributions, Reuters reported.

“In an indictment unsealed on Thursday in the Western District of Virginia, Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Howard Jenkins, 51, is accused of abusing his position by engaging in a scheme to appoint volunteers to serve as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in exchange for bribes,” reported Sarah Lynch. “Through this alleged scheme, prosecutors said he accepted at least $72,500. Three of the men who accepted deputy sheriff appointments — Rick Tariq Rahim, 55, of Great Falls; Fredric Gumbinner, 64, of Fairfax; James Metcalf, 60, of Manassas are also charged in the case.”

According to the report, Jenkins also allegedly accepted a bribe from Rahim to approve a petition to restore his right to carry a gun, in violation of the state’s residency requirements.

“The indictment alleges he authorized auxiliary deputy sheriffs to carry concealed firearms in any state without obtaining permits, encouraged them to pay bribes through other individuals, and disguised the payments as firearms purchases,” said the report. “Undercover FBI agents helped investigate the scheme by posing as people who were interested in becoming auxiliary deputy sheriffs, with one of them even pretending to have a criminal record.”

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