Career criminal and former fugitive handed two years

A violent sex offender/career criminal with more than 40 convictions on his record must serve two years of a suspended sentence incurred from a pair of felony convictions in New Kent County.

William Donald Poulson Jr., 32, of 320 Bernie Court, Highland Springs, had been on the run from authorities until he was captured last May in Michigan.

Poulson was a passenger in a pickup truck stopped for tailgating in Livonia, Mich. on May 4. He gave police a fictitious name, but investigators soon uncovered his true identity as well as outstanding warrants in Virginia.

Poulson appeared in New Kent Circuit Court on Aug. 23 to face a probation violation charge stemming from a 2008 conviction on two counts of forging a public document. The charges originated from a gasoline drive-off in 2003 after which he signed a fictitious name on a pair of summonses.

The case, however, never reached court until more than four years later because New Kent authorities could not determine Poulson’s real identity. But the break came in 2007 when he was arrested in Henrico County and his fingerprints matched the person charged in New Kent in 2003. He received five years in prison with all but 18 months suspended.

During Aug. 23 proceedings, prosecutor Linwood Gregory told the court Poulson failed to follow terms of probation and had fled the state close to a year earlier.

Judge Thomas B. Hoover revoked eight years, six months of Poulson’s suspended sentence, handing the defendant two years behind bars and suspending the rest.

Defense attorney Todd Duval asked the court to allow his client work release, adding, “He’s come home now.”

“He came home in jewelry from the sheriff’s department,” Hoover responded in denying the request. The judge cited concern that Poulson had been on the run and echoed Gregory’s concern about the defendant being a violent sex offender.

The sex offense occurred in Henrico where he now faces two counts of failing to register as a sex offender.

Afterward, the defendant had some words for the judge.

“Guess I’ll see you in a little while,” he directed toward Hoover while being led away by deputies.