Charles City man handed 9-year term

A Charles City man, originally indicted on 15 sex charges involving underage girls before those charges were dropped, has pleaded guilty in county circuit court to two counts of firearm possession by a convicted felon.

Forrest Everett “Skeeter” Evans, 74, of 5901 Courthouse Road, must serve nine years in prison. The sentence was part of a plea deal reached last Friday that averted a jury trial scheduled for July 17.

Evans’ saga began last November when a circuit court grand jury handed up indictments on the 15 sex counts. The alleged victims were girls ages 7 and 10 at the time of the alleged offenses in 2006 and 2007.

Evans eluded capture for several weeks before surrendering to Charles City authorities on Feb. 1. He was placed in Riverside Regional Jail in Prince George County where he was held without bond. During that incarceration, however, tape-recorded conversations between Evans and his wife led to the firearm charges.

At a May hearing, county Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Tyler motioned to drop the sex charges. That same day, another grand jury indicted Evans on 10 firearm counts.

Tyler said his reason for dropping the sex charges stemmed from not wanting to put the alleged victims through the rigors of a jury trial. At the May hearing, he introduced close to 30 hours of taped conversations between Evans and the defendant’s wife that led authorities to execute a search warrant at Evans’ residence. The April 7 search, Tyler said, turned up 17 firearms.

Last Friday and as part of a plea deal, eight of the firearm charges were dropped. Evans pleaded guilty to two counts, specifically possession of a firearm on Aug. 16, 2006 by a felon convicted of a violent felony and possession of a firearm on Oct. 8, 2006 by a felon convicted of a non-violent felony.

Afterward, Tyler said the violent/non-violent distinction was made because the former calls for a mandatory five-year prison term and the latter allows for suspended time.

Judge Thomas B. Hoover followed terms of the plea agreement, sentencing Evans to five years, all to be served, on the violent count and five years with one year suspended for 25 years on the non-violent charge.

The felony charge serving as basis for the firearm convictions was a 1977 conviction in Middlesex County in which Evans took indecent liberties with his daughter, Tyler said.

Also as part of the plea deal, Tyler agreed to not prosecute Evans on the child sex charges and a battery charge against a child stemming from Aug. 6, 2007. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, meanwhile, has agreed to not prosecute Evans on federal gun charges.

Evans declined comment when asked by Hoover if he had anything to say before sentence was imposed. The defendant will be given credit for time already served in jail awaiting trial.