Logan charges dropped in CC

Charles City charges lodged against Alonzo Erwin Logan, the notorious escape artist who twice prompted police manhunts in the county, have been dropped.

A motion by county Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Tyler to drop kidnapping and burglary charges was granted yesterday (Tuesday) in Charles City Circuit Court.

Logan, 41, had been indicted in January on both counts that stemmed from his latest escape last Nov. 15 from Dillwyn Correctional Center in Buckingham County.

Several days after his escape, he was spotted in the eastern Henrico, western Charles City area. On Nov. 26, he allegedly broke into a Charles City woman’s house and abducted her, forcing her to drive him to Richmond where he eventually was recaptured.

In his motion, Tyler told the court the victim is “an emotionally fragile person” who asked not to be required to testify against Logan. She would be “unable to supply adequate testimony for prosecution of the case,” Tyler wrote.

In a separate interview, Tyler said the victim, who was named in earlier reports, but is not being identified now, “has been destroyed by this thing.”

The prosecutor added that convicting Logan would have just added more years to already lengthy sentences the defendant must serve.

Logan first gained notoriety in 2001 when he overpowered a Charles City deputy on the way to county court, forcing the deputy’s police cruiser to wreck just west of the courthouse on Route 5.

With the deputy’s sidearm in hand, Logan ran to a nearby house where he kidnapped the owner, forcing the man to drive him to Henrico. A few hours later, Logan was found hiding in the attic of an apartment complex near Seven Pines.

An attic also figured in Logan’s apprehension last year. He was discovered hiding in the attic of an abandoned house in east Richmond.

Logan was not returned to Dillwyn. He was taken to a state prison in Sussex County before being transferred to his current home, Red Onion Correctional Facility in the southwest Virginia community of Pound.