News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | November 2, 2026
Local News
Four indicted by CC grand jury
Four individuals have been indicted by a Charles City grand jury during its convening on March 5 in Charles City Circuit court. Those indicted and the charges they face are: –Zachery Clarkston Russell, 21, of 12701 Sterling Heights Lane, Providence Forge, on two counts of distribution of heroin and one count of distribution of morphine. Russell allegedly distributed the substances around Oct. 17 of last year. –Jonathan Mondale Crump, 41, of 6811 Courthouse Road, Providence Forge, on one count of distribution of cocaine and one count robbery. The alleged distribution offense occurred last Nov. 14 while the alleged robbery offense…
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Briefly… for March 14-27, 2013
NK car theft defendant sentenced A Richmond man is being placed in an alternative corrections program as part of his sentencing after pleading guilty to a grand larceny charge. Jacques Ishmael Botts, 19, of 6014 Newington Drive, Richmond, was sentenced on March 4 in New Kent Circuit Court to the state Department of Corrections’ detention program and will also attend the state’s diversion program after that. Botts admitted he stole a Honda Accord belonging to Earnest Kopacki last Nov. 6. He eventually wrecked the vehicle on Interstate 64 near the Bottoms Bridge exit where he abandoned the vehicle. Botts also…
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Audit report takes county to task over mismanagement
Mismanagement of money ranks chief among concerns listed in an annual auditor’s report on Charles City County finances. The report presented at the January Board of Supervisors meeting criticized a $1,000 bill rung up by the county sheriff’s office at a local restaurant. The bill was paid using assets that had been forfeited to the sheriff’s office. Using forfeited assets by the county for personal or political purposes is illegal, the auditor told the board. Other concerns in the audit report included lack of standard operating procedures in departments and lack of consolidating areas for similar occupations that execute similar…
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Task force proposed in NK to enhance school security
PICAS Task Force volunteers could soon be manning main entrances to New Kent County schools. PICAS, by the way, is an acronym for Protecting Innocent Children At School, a local resident-based volunteer “task force” that is the brainchild of Ron Stiers, the District 4 representative on the county’s Board of Supervisors. Stiers came up with the concept in the wake of last December’s tragic school shooting in Newtown, Conn. “After Connecticut, I began asking myself what can we do to protect our students,” he said in a Feb. 15 interview. PICAS is the result, and Stiers has pitched the concept…
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Second truck stop proposed for I-64 interchange in NK
One truck stop already exists on Route 106 at the Interstate 64 Talleysville interchange in New Kent County. Now a North Carolina-based company is advancing plans to build a second. Wilco Hess LLC, headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., approached the county on Feb. 19 with a conditional use permit (CUP) application to build an 8,000 square-foot convenience store/fast food restaurant along with a dozen fuel pumps for cars and eight more for heavy trucks on the southeast corner of the interchange. That’s the same side of the road where Pilot operates a truck stop and convenience store. The Wilco Hess “travel…
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NK school budget shortfall below previous years’ figures
New Kent superintendent of schools Rick Richardson presented county School Board members with a budget that has one goal in mind– restoration. Richardson’s $28,127,900 projected budget for New Kent schools for fiscal year 2013-14 includes reinstatement and addition of 20 full-time employees as well as funds that were used for a one-time bailout. The presentation was made during the board’s Feb. 19 work session. “This budget reflects long, overdue items,” Richardson told the board. “It also reflects the growth and adjustments needed to the salary scale.” The proposal, however, reflects only an intake of $26,635,240 in projected revenue for the…
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Supervisor details wastewater treatment plant deficiencies
When the new board of Charles City supervisors took office last year, each member designated areas they would focus on based on experience and strategy for improvement. For District 2 supervisor Bill Coada, he wanted to make sure the public’s inquiries and speculation on condition of the county’s wastewater treatment plants and public works department came to the forefront to see how serious conditions have become. At Tuesday night’s board meeting, Coada’s hour-long presentation consisted of pictures and documents that compared and contrasted the wastewater plants and organization of a variety of vehicles and buildings in the public works department….
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Supervisor’s bid to reduce planners finds no support
New Kent District 4 Supervisor Ron Stiers made a campaign pledge during the 2011 election season to reduce membership on the county’s 10-member Planning Commission and work to remove commissioners he considered as dead weight. Last week, fellow supervisors shot down Stiers’ proposal in flames. In a special joint meeting of supervisors and commissioners on Feb. 19, it quickly became evident that Stiers’ vision of reducing commission membership from the current two for each of the five county electoral districts to one per district and two at-large, a total of seven, was going nowhere. One by one, Stiers’ colleagues voiced…
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Judge dismisses construction fraud lodged against NK man
A man who never completed repairs on a New Kent County resident’s home no longer faces felony construction fraud. Judge Thomas B. Hoover agreed with a defense motion to strike the charge against Ras Joseph Nathan Fleming, 22, on Monday in New Kent Circuit Court. In the contested trial, Commonwealth’s Attorney Linwood Gregory said that on a variety of dates from Feb. 3-Apr. 4 of last year Fleming was hired by Sharon Bey to do plumbing work at her residence on Olivet Church Road. Bey received a recommendation on Fleming’s services from his aunt. While repairs started well, Bey testified…
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Briefly… for Feb. 28-March 13, 2013
CC traffic stop yields drugs, weapon A Williamsburg man faces drug and weapons charges stemming from a traffic stop in Charles City County on Feb. 17. A county deputy stopped a vehicle on John Tyler Memorial Highway for a traffic violation around 8:30 p.m. When the deputy approached the vehicle, he detected an odor of marijuana coming from inside. A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed a half-pound of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a 9 mm handgun. The driver, Justin Vernell Wade, 27, of the 100 block of Luther Drive, Williamsburg, is charged with one count each of possession with…
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