Day 2: Prosecution presses circumstantial case against VFW arson suspect

Lesley Rose Deavers – RSW Jail mug shot

FRONT ROYAL – On the second day of the VFW Post 1860 embezzlement-arson trial of Leslie Rose Deavers, the prosecution and defense sparred around witnesses on both aspects of the largely circumstantial case. Deavers is accused of staging a robbery-vandalism break-in of the headquarters on July 3, 2015, then setting the VFW headquarters on fire just over a week later on July 11, 2015, as part of a plan to cover up two years of embezzling money from the organization.

On Tuesday, March 5, the prosecution presented an ATF (Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms) forensic auditor who detailed a two-year history (2014-15) of 98 cash deposits totaling over $104,000 made into a bank account Deavers shared with a boyfriend; and two witnesses who showed up at the headquarters the morning of the fire describing a nonchalant attitude from Deavers and a male companion, apparently the only occupants of the building at the time, to signs of fire in various locations of the VFW building at 1850 North Royal Avenue extended. The male on site the morning of the fire was identified as Billy Rose, who is now deceased.

One of the two visitors who encountered Deavers and Rose the morning of the fire, Brendan Squire, along with several responding firefighters and police said they saw a red gasoline can near one of the VFW entrance doors.  Squire testified he also saw a gasoline can sitting by a nearby shed. The plastic gas can was destroyed in the fire, though testimony and some visual evidence indicated its presence by the building after the fire broke out full bore.

Other prosecution witnesses included VFW Post 1850 members who described times when Deavers, a part-time employee who volunteered to manage the bar and clubhouse business, would not pay winning tickets on V-tab non-profit gambling machines in the club at times, claiming low available funds at the time.

Discrepancies between V-tab machine gambling money taken in and paid out were cited by the prosecution as a part of Deaver’s extended embezzlement scheme at the club.

ATF forensic auditor David Clemson – “just like the university,” he said of his name – testified he was brought in as part of the arson investigation to seek out a motive as to why the VFW fire might have been intentionally set. His investigation eventually focused on Deavers for several reasons, including discrepancies in the V-Tab gambling takes and payouts Deavers was instrumental in as club manager as well as the large number of cash deposits with Deavers name on them that went into the bank account she shared with boyfriend Ashby Spiker.

Fire damage to the VFW Post 1860 headquarters

The two witnesses who came across Deavers and the now late Billy Rose at the headquarters the morning of the fire described a somewhat cavalier, casual or unconcerned attitude about the presence of smoke in the building, and even the discovery of a fire that melted a plastic trash can in one room.

On cross-examination defense attorneys Jason Ransom and Jonathan Silvester attempted to undermine the credibility of prosecution witnesses due to unclear memories of circumstances surrounding the 3-1/2-year old events; a failure to see Deavers carrying the gas can or lighting a fire anywhere; and in the forensic auditor’s case exactly what the implication of the cash deposits into Deavers shared bank account implied.

Detail will be added to this story as the trial progresses.