Expanded Haymarket IcePlex hosts figure skating classes, competitive ice hockey and more. Page 13
July 18, 2018 | Serving Haymarket, Gainesville and Western Prince William County | Vol. 17, No. 29 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢
COREY STEWART ON KKK FLYERS:
‘I have always condemned the KKK and similar groups’ By Jonathan Hunley Times Staff Writer
The local chapter of the NAACP, elected officials and local residents spoke out in the wake of white-supremacist literature recently found in western Prince William driveways. Five speakers at the Prince William Board of Supervisors’ July 10 meeting even called for Board Chairman Corey Stewart to resign. Stewart, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate he has been associated with white supremacists in the past, missed the meeting but issued a public
statement about the hate literature the next day. “I have always condemned the KKK and similar groups,” Stewart’s statement said. “There is no room in our community for these vile organizations.” In February 2017, Stewart participated in a Charlottesville rally alongside Jason Kessler. Kessler went on to help organize the Unite the Right rally in August 2017 that resulted in the death of Corey Stewart counter-protester Heather Heyer.
Stewart also called Wisconsin congressional candidate Paul Nehlen, a self-described “prowhite” candidate, his “personal hero” in early 2017. Stewart has since disavowed any association Kessler and Nehlen, saying he wasn’t fully aware of their extreme views. More than 10 speakers at the supervisors meeting implored the board members to speak out against the racist flyers, which turned up in residential areas in Prince William and Fauquier counties on Sunday, July 8.
See STEWART, page 2
Prince William’s crime rate inches up in 2017, but murders plummet Homicides down 82 percent, reported rapes up 87 percent By Jonathan Hunley/Times Staff Writer Prince William County’s crime rate ticked up slightly in 2017 to 14 crimes per 1,000 residents. The county’s population stood at about 456,000 in 2017.
Four murders, all stabbings, were committed in Prince William County in 2017. That’s down 82 percent from the number of murders the county saw in 2016, which was 22. SOURCE: PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY POLICE INSIDE Calendars...........................................16 Classified............................................17 Lifestyle..............................................14 Opinion...............................................11
Prince William’s overall crime rate increased slightly in 2017, though murders were down dramatically, county Police Chief Barry Barnard announced Friday. Barnard released the police department’s 2017 Crime Report at a news conference July 13. The overall crime rate was 14 crimes per 1,000 Prince William residents in 2017, placing the county in the bottom third in terms of crime rates in the Washington, D.C., area, but up from 13.7 crimes per 1,000 residents in 2016. MurPublic Safety.........................................3 Puzzles...............................................12 Real Estate..........................................15 Sports.................................................13
ders, rapes, aggravated assaults, robberies, burglaries, car thefts and larcenies are used to calculate crime rates. “Prince William County is, and continues to be, a safe community,” Barnard said. There were four murders in the county in 2017, an 82 percent reduction from 2016’s 22. All of were the result of stabbings, and all but one resulted in arrests. (The offender in the fourth case committed suicide.)
See CRIME, page 2
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Gainesville/Prince William Times | www.princewilliamtimes.com | July 18, 2018
‘I have always condemned the KKK and similar groups’ STEWART from page 1 “Hate has no home in Brentsville,” said Brentsville resident Maggie Hansford.“Hate has no home in any community,” Prince William NAACP President Rev. Cozy Bailey said in a prepared statement, “especially a diverse, minority-majority community like Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. We hope our elected officials send a strong statement of unity by standing with us.” At least four of them did. Supervisor Jeanine Lawson, R-Brentsville, issued a statement on Facebook. It said, “This weekend, western Prince William County was targeted by hate mongers seeking to incite hatred and divide our community. I condemn these despicable acts in the strongest terms.” Lawson noted the county supervisors voted
June 26 to proclaim Prince William “a hate-free and bigot free zone.” “There is no place for repulsive rhetoric like this in our county, commonwealth or country,” she added. Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Marty Nohe, R-Coles, also spoke against the flyers Tuesday. He said the literature, which included recruitment material for the Ku Klux Klan, do not represent who the community is in Prince William. “We condemn this kind of thinking, this kind of attitude,” he said. Supervisors Pete Candland, R-Gainesville, and Ruth Anderson, R-Occoquan, also denounced the flyers on Facebook. Candland said he was “outraged and saddened” after hearing about the incident. “These vile racist and hate-promoting organizations have no place in Prince William County,
the state of Virginia, or the United States. I strongly condemn the KKK distributing flyers and emphasize that any hate or discriminatory groups are not welcome in our community.” And, said Anderson: “I condemn the reported recent actions of a KKK-affiliated group in our area. I stand with the NAACP in their call out against hate in our diverse community.” Bags containing the literature were left on driveways sometime during the overnight hours between July 8 and July 9 in Gainesville and in Bristow. They were weighed down with birdseed and possibly thrown from a vehicle. The incident followed a similar one in April in Triangle. Both are under investigation. “So we take these events very, very seriously,” Prince William Police Chief Barry Barnard told supervisors July 10. Reach Jonathan Hunley at jhunley@fauquier. com
Prince William’s crime rate inches up in 2017, but murders plummet CRIME from page 1 In three of the cases, the victim was known to the offender. One was domestic-related, and two were gang-related. In one, a store loss-prevention officer was killed when he confronted a shoplifter. The police were pleased that the number of murders was low, but Barnard was quick to say that any murder is significant. So no one is proclaiming victory just because the numbers went down from 2016, he
said. “We are always looking downriver to see what we can do to continue to have a positive influence on that,” he said. Reports of rape increased in 2017, to 112 from 60 the year before, but they included 37 that were alleged to have occurred in a previous year. Only one of the rapes was reported as being committed by a stranger. The other victims knew their attackers. Why was the overall number so
high? Authorities aren’t certain, Barnard said, but it could be that more education about the subject has led victims to be more likely to come forward.
Other crimes
In 2017, aggravated assaults increased by 10 percent over 2016. Car thefts increased by 21 percent. And larcenies increased by 3 percent. The number of burglaries decreased in 2017 from the previous year by 10 percent. Robberies decreased by 1 percent.
Crimes committed by undocumented immigrants
The department also keeps statistics on crimes committed by people believed to be undocumented immigrants. About 2.1 percent of all crimes were attributed to such residents last year. In 2017, 12 undocumented people were arrested in connection with murders (including those that hap-
pened in previous years), five were arrested on charges of rape, eight on charges of aggravated assaults, and two on charges of burglary. Last year, undocumented immigrants committed 1 percent of all larcenies, 2.1 percent of non-aggravated assaults and 0.4 percent of all drug violations.
Crash data
In 2017, there were 4,198 total traffic crashes in the county, a 1.2 percent decrease from 2016. There were 18 fatal crashes last year, down 30.8 percent from the previous year. Alcohol was a factor in four of the fatal crashes, which is 50 percent less than in 2016. There were 1,132 DUI arrests in 2017, up 26.9 percent from 2016. There were 36,676 traffic citations issued last year, down 0.7 percent from 2016. Officers issued 93 driving while texting citations, up 72.2 percent from 2016. Reach Jonathan Hunley at jhunley@fauquier.com
Keep up with what’s happening at PrinceWilliamTimes.com Community Editor Anita Sherman, 540.351.1635 asherman@fauquier.com Staff Writers ISSN 1050-7655, USPS 188280 Amanda Heincer, 540-878-2418 Published every Wednesday by aheincer@fauquier.com Piedmont Media LLC James Ivancic, 540-878-2414 jivancic@fauquier.com How to reach us Leland Schwartz, 540-351-0488 ADDRESS: lschwartz@fauquier.com 41 Culpeper Street Warrenton, Virginia 20186 Jonathan Hunley PHONE: 540-347-4222 jhunley@fauquier.com FAX: 540-349-8676 HOURS: 8 a.m. 5 p.m. weekdays, Sports Editor 24-hour answering service Peter Brewington, 540-351-1169 pbrewington@fauquier.com Publisher Catherine M. Nelson, Sports Staff Writer 540-300-4780 Jeff Malmgren, 540-874-2250 cnelson@fauquier.com jmalmgren@fauquier.com NEWSROOM ADVERTISING Editor in Chief Ad Manager Chris Six, 540-212-6331 Kathy Mills Godfrey 540-351-1162 csix@fauquier.com kgodfrey@fauquier.com Managing Editor Classified Sales Consulatants Jill Palermo,540-351-0431 Jeanne Cobert, 540-878-2491 jpalermo@fauquier.com jcobert@fauquier.com Associate Editor Evelyn Cobert, 540-878-2492 John Toler, 540-351-0487 jtoler@fauquier.com ecobert@fauquier.com
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suspect, who was described as between 15 and 19 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, 150 pounds and thin. He was last seen wearing a face mask, a black long-sleeved sweater, khaki pants and black tennis shoes. He was carrying a red, soft ice cooler.
Two stabbed at Manassas-area hotel
A man’s body was found July 13 by a person walking in Marumsco Acre Lake Park, on the 14400 block of Melbourne Avenue in Woodbridge, according to Prince William County Police.
Body found on Woodbridge walking path
Prince William police are investigating a body found Friday morning by a person walking in a residential area near Veterans Park. But they say there’s “no public threat or need for concern” at this time, according to a Prince William County police press release. The body of an adult male was found at 6:47 a.m. Friday, July 13, by a person walking in Marumsco Acre Lake Park, on the 14400 block of Melbourne Avenue in Woodbridge, according to Prince William County Police spokesman Nathan Probus. The body was transported to the state medical examiner’s office in Manassas for an autopsy and further analysis to determine the cause of death, the press release said. The victim’s identity will be released once next-of-kin has been notified. “At this time, there is no public threat or need for concern,” the press release said. The investigation continues.
Prince William County Courthouse vandalized
Police are investigating after someone apparently shot a BB-type gun at windows of the Prince William County Courthouse. Officers responded to the courthouse, at 9311 Lee Ave. in Manassas, at 9:39 a.m. on Tuesday, July 10, Prince William County police said in a news release. The police investigation found that sometime between 5 p.m. on July 9 and 1 a.m. on July 10, an unknown suspect or suspects struck three to four windows of the courthouse “with what was believed to be a BB-type gun,” police said in the news release. The projectiles damaged the first pane of the windows, police said. No projectile entered the courthouse, which was empty at the time of the incident, police said.
Man charged with brandishing a handgun in Woodbridge
A Fredericksburg man was arrested after, police said, he brandished a handgun at another driver at a traffic light in Woodbridge. Officers were called to investigate the incident on June 1 at 6:20 a.m. in the area of Minnieville and Spriggs
roads in Woodbridge, Prince William County police said in a news release. A 25-year-old man told police that he was stopped at a traffic light in that area when a Chevrolet pickup truck pulled alongside his vehicle. The pickup truck driver “was holding a handgun in his hand, which he then pointed upward,” police said in the news release. The driver “yelled toward the victim about his driving before pulling away,” police said. Police investigated and identified the pickup truck driver as Jesse William Blair Lyon and obtained a warrant for his arrest. Lyon, 30, of Cropp Road in Fredericksburg, was arrested during a traffic stop on July 10 and charged with brandishing. He has a court date Aug. 21.
Manassas-area 7-Eleven robbed July 8 by man carrying red cooler
An armed man robbed a Manassas-area 7-Eleven convenience store, Prince William County police said. Officers were called to 7301 Sudley Road in the Manassas area of Prince William County at 11:11 a.m. Sunday, July 8. An employee told police a man wearing a mask and carrying a red cooler entered the store and brandished a handgun. The suspect then “forced the employee to open the cash register to obtain money,” before running from the business, police said in the news release. No injuries were reported. Police searched the area with a K-9 and the Fairfax County police helicopter but did not locate the
A Maryland man is wanted on malicious wounding charges after two people were stabbed at a Manassas-area hotel Sunday afternoon, Prince William County police said. Officers were called to the Best Western at 10820 Balls Ford Road at 1:36 p.m. on Sunday, July 15, Prince William County police said in a new release. Police investigated and learned that Jeffrey Scott Ruszczewski II was involved in “an ongoing verbal altercation” with a 21-year-old woman, his acquaintance, “after attending a concert in the area.” At some point, Ruszczewski left the hotel and returned to find the woman speaking with an unknown 24-year-old man, police said. “During the encounter, the accused retrieved a knife and stabbed both of the victims in the upper body causing non-life-threatening injuries,” police said in the news release. Ruszczewski fled the area before police arrived, police said. Ruszczewski, 29, of the 8400 block of Bussenius Road in Pasadena, Maryland, is wanted for two counts of malicious wounding. He is described as white, 5 feet, 7
inches tall and 125 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.
Woodbridge man charged with indecent exposure
A Woodbridge man was naked while he watched a family eat dinner and then jumped into the Occoquan River, Prince William County police said. Officers were called to 13100 block of Marina Way in Woodbridge on Thursday, July 12, at 9:57 p.m. to investigate the reported indecent exposure, Prince William County police said in a news release. A 49-year-old man called police to report that he was “eating dinner with his family in the area when he observed an unknown man with no clothes on watching them through a nearby fence,” the police news release said. The caller said he tried to confront the suspect, who then “attempted to flee and eventually jumped into the Occoquan River,” police said. The caller provided a description of the suspect to police and “when officers arrived, they located the accused still without clothes and in the water,” the police news release said. Police determined the suspect was intoxicated, according to the news release. The suspect, identified as Robert J. Shannon, 52, of Brooke Farm Court in Woodbridge, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure and public intoxication. He was held on a $5,000 secured bond and has a court date on Aug. 15.
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