Two in multi-county burglary ring accept deals in New Kent Circuit Court

Benjamin Potter (left) and William Paige (center) will serve four years in prison after accepting plea deals in New Kent Circuit Court. A third suspect, James Thomas (right), has yet to stand trial.

Two men, part of a multi-county burglary ring that involved several central Virginia localities including Charles City and New Kent counties, accepted plea deals in New Kent Circuit Court.

Proceedings on May 21 resulted in Benjamin Lee Potter, 37, of the 9300 block of Horsecastle Court, Glen Allen, and William Lawrence Paige, 52, of the 1300 block of Burma Court, Richmond, pleading guilty to three counts of burglary. Potter’s pleas were Alford pleas of guilty to all three counts, while Paige entered an Alford plea of guilty for one count and straight guilty pleas to the remaining counts. Three counts each of conspiracy to commit grand larceny, grand larceny, and intent to sell stolen property were dropped as part of the agreement.

In a summary of evidence provided by Detective Lt. Joey McLaughlin, from Jan. 23-28 of this year homes in New Kent were burglarized along Hopewell Road, Tunstall Road, and Pine Fork Road. Among items taken were televisions, video game systems, a generator, and several power tools.

Working with federal authorities and officers from neighboring jurisdictions, items were traced to pawn shops, with items that were stolen being sold on the same day to the store. After extensive research, three suspects were developed, with two of them being Potter and Paige. After the two were located in Richmond, questioning began, with Potter saying he remembers a few houses in the area and going to a number of pawn shops with Paige.

McLaughlin also said a system of using a cell phone to mark addresses of potential homes to rob was mapped. Evidence on Potter’s phone listed several locations where the suspects would walk up to a potential victim’s house. According to the detective, they would knock on the door and if someone answered, they would pull out the phone and reveal an address on it, asking for directions. If no one responded, the home would be the target for the burglary.

Under the plea agreement, Potter received 20 years to serve in prison on one count of burglary, with four years, two months of active time. Twenty years on each of the remaining two charges were suspended.

Paige’s plea agreement calls for him to serve 20 years in prison, with all but four years suspended on each of the three charges. Time on the second and third counts will run concurrently with the four years on the first offense. Both men also must pay $5,924.16 apiece for restitution.

Matters are still not over for the duo, as well as a third suspect, James T. Thomas. All three have pending charges in King & Queen, Hanover, and Charles City. Each member of the trio also has 16 federal indictments for selling stolen firearms. Charges in King William were dropped last week, but the suspects are expected to be re-indicted.

Thomas has yet to make a court appearance on the offenses. Charles City charges are still pending and have not been certified to a grand jury.

In an unrelated case, a Richmond man accepted a plea agreement, entering guilty pleas to two counts of grand larceny.

Tremaine Lamont Hardy, 33, of the 1600 block of Thalia Crescent, admitted guilt to two counts of grand larceny. Nine other charges were dropped as a result of the agreement.

In a summary of evidence provided by Commonwealth’s Attorney Linwood Gregory, last June and October homes were burglarized in New Kent, with jewelry being stolen, as well as a custom pillow case from one of the homes. After an investigation, it was revealed that a couple of pawned rings were from graduations and had specific markings. Documentation revealed that Hardy had received the property as payment for drugs. In turn, the defendant would sell the jewelry for cash.

Under the agreement, he received 20 years in prison with all but two years, six months suspended. All 20 years on the second charge were suspended. He must also pay $3,100 in restitution.