Monday, May 21, 2012
A fire on Thursday at a townhouse on Beech Drive was the fourth fire in the city this year caused by the improper disposal of smoking materials, officials said.
Cigarette butts thrown into a plastic trashcan in a bathroom caused a fire in a townhouse in the Georgetown South neighborhood Thursday, displacing two residents, according to Manassas City Fire Marshal Francis J. Teevan. Fire and rescue units from the City of Manassas, Manassas Park, and Prince William County responded to the 9400 block of Beech Drive shortly after noon on Thursday May 17. Arriving firefighters found smoke coming from the middle unit townhouse. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire that burned the first floor bathroom and caused smoke damage throughout the townhouse, according to Teevan. An elderly female resident, who lives in the home with her adult son, told fire investigators she was alerted to the …
Police arrested two men after executing a search warrant at the Manassas motel.
"The following information was supplied by the Manassas Park Police Department. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction." Detectives working with a special, multi-jurisdictional drug team made two arrests and found drugs in a motel room in Old Town Manassas after executing a search warrant. Officers with the Prince William-Manassas-Manassas Park Narcotics Task Force executed the warrant in Room 40 at Olde Towne Inn, located at 9403 Main Street, on March 28. Police said they didn't publicize details of the search at the time because they needed to protect their ongoing investigation into drug deals in the area. During the search and investigation, police discovered marijuana, oxycodone, drug paraphernalia …
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Review the top stories from the county-area this week, in case you missed it.
Manassas Park: City Center Sold as Foreclosure after Owner Defaults The mixed-use development near Osbourn Park High School was once promised to be a vibrant city center for Manassas Park residents. Alliance Bank is one of the only retail businesses in the storefront of the center. Read the whole article here. Lake Ridge-Occoquan Patch: Lattin Resigns from School Board to Spend More Time With Family Occoquan School Board representative Grant Lattin suddenly resigned from the school board Wednesday night because he wanted to be a family man. One commenter asked why Lattin didn't make a decision before he was re-elected but another said he was the voice of reason on the board. To check out the conversation, read the article. Manassas Patch…
Traffic stalled on Centreville Road twice on Friday after firefighters were called back to Byrd Tractor where a fire burned that morning.
Police closed parts of Centreville Road for a second time on Friday after firefighters were called back to a Yorkshire business that was on fire earlier that day. Just before 9 p.m. on Friday, a portion of the 7200 block of Centreville Road near the Fairfax County border was closed by Prince William County Police while firefighters from several departments again responded to Byrd Tractor, where a oil tank exploded that morning. It is not immediately clear what brought firefighters back to the one-story building some 12 hours after the fire was brought under control. Centreville Road northbound was reduced to just one lane right in front of Byrd Tractor Friday night. The southbound lanes were completely closed right in front of the …
Friday, May 18, 2012
Police in Prince William County have arrested a man suspected of stalking a Woodbridge McDonald's employee and exposing himself to her.
Police in Prince William County have arrested a man suspected of stalking a Woodbridge McDonald's employee and exposing himself to her. Rigoberto Lopez Castro, 34, of 9561 Tudor Oaks Drive, in Manassas, was arrested May 17 just before midnight without incident after police were called to the McDonald's, located at 14591 Jefferson Davis Highway, to investigate a report about a suspicious person. An employee of the establishment—identified as a 57-year-old woman of Woodbridge—told police she encountered Castro, a man she did not know, as she was throwing trash away behind the establishment. She told police a man believed to be Castro exposed himself to her before she went back into the restaurant. According to police, the woman encountered …
Opposing sides debate whether information was improperly withheld.
A three-judge panel of U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond on Thursday listened to attorneys for opposing sides in a Virginia Death Row case in which a lower federal court vacated the sentences of Justin Michael Wolfe, of Chantilly. The state appealed the order of U.S. District Court Judge Raymond A. Jackson that overturned a death sentence related to the murder of Daniel Robert Petrole Jr., of Centreville, in March 2001. Triggerman Owen Merton Barber IV testified against Wolfe during Wolfe’s 2002 trial and has since changed his story more than once—most recently proclaiming Wolfe's innocence to Judge Jackson. Estimates of when the 4th Circuit ruling may come range from a couple of weeks to several months. The court previously …
Fire officials said two people suffered injuries in a fire at Byrd Tractor Inc. on the 7200 Block of Centreville Road.
Police had to temporarily close Centreville Road following a fire in the Yorkshire area that caused minor injuries to two people, and traffic was backed up for hours. Capt. Tom Pearson Assistant Fire Marshal of the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue said the fire occurred at Byrd Tractor, which shares a building with A-1 Glass. The business is on the 7200 block of Centreville Road, close to the Fairfax County border. "First-arriving units encountered heavy smoke and fire conditions and initiated an exterior attack," Pearson wrote in a news release. "Incident commanders requested a second alarm shortly after their arrival. The fire is currently out and mop-up operations are underway." The Fire Marshal's office is …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Christina Danielle Phillips was found alive in nearby Fauquier County, police said Sunday.
Christina Danielle Phillips was found alive in nearby Fauquier County Sunday after she was reported missing for over a week. No further details about where or how Phillips was found was made immediately available. Police had been looking for the missing Manassas Park woman since Saturday, May 12. Investigators said Phillips is mentally disabled.
Virginia has appealed a federal judge’s decision to vacate the convictions and sentences regarding Daniel Robert Petrole Jr.’s 2001 murder.
Virginia’s appeal of a federal court decision to vacate the conviction and sentence of Justin Michael Wolfe—who a Prince William County jury sent to death row in 2002 for murder-for-hire—goes before the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond on May 17. Owen Merton Barber IV, of Centreville, testified before a federal judge in 2010 that he made up his testimony against Wolfe, of Chantilly, under pressure from prosecutors and his own defense attorney. Barber followed Daniel Robert Petrole Jr. for more than an hour before blocking his car along a dead-end street in front of Petrole’s Bristow home and killing him. In his order vacating the convictions, U.S. District Court Judge Raymond A. Jackson said prosecutors withheld exculpatory …
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The Manassas City Police Department is investigating after several residents have reported having their vehicles burglarized.
The Manassas City Police Department is investigating after several vehicles were burglarized, during the overnight hours on May 11, 2012 and May 12, 2012 at the following addresses: Victims reported a combined total of nearly $2,000 worth of electronic items were removed from the vehicles, according to police. The vehicles were left unlocked or thought to be locked at the time of the thefts in most reported cases, police said. In several instances, the vehicles were parked in the front of victims’ residences where outside lights had been left off. According to MCPD Crime Prevention Specialist Adrienne Helms, larcenies from vehicles and larcenies of motor vehicle parts are the most commonly reported property offenses in the city. Citizen …
Evelyn Lauchengco
9:48 am on Saturday, May 19, 2012
Can you imagine possibly killing an innocent person because of a false, forced testimony? Please free Justin Wolfe. more ›