Crime/Court
Christendom College ‘Professor Emeritus’ arrested on child sex abuse charges
The Warren County Catholic community was rocked by the Friday, June 25 arrest on a trio of child sexual abuse and solicitation charges of former professor and “Professor Emeritus” at Christendom College, William Raymond Luckey. Royal Examiner was contacted over the weekend by Catholics in this community about the arrest of the 72-year-old Luckey and alerted to a posting about it by Catholic blogger Simcha Fisher (www.simchafisher.com).
Fisher was prominent in carrying a 2018 effort by female alumni to pressure Christendom College administrators into changes in its approach to what was claimed to be a culture of coverup of an alleged history of sexual abuse of females at the conservative Catholic college, to a regional and even national online audience. Of that experience, Fisher wrote in yesterday’s post: “Christendom President Timothy O’Donnell apologized in 2018 after we reported on the school failing women who had been sexually assaulted on campus. At the time, the school pledged to bring in experts to review the school’s policies and protocols dealing with sexual assault and harassment.”
But it was not college-age women at issue in Luckey’s arrest by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office on June 25th. Luckey was charged with one count of “Solicitation of prostitution from a minor less than age 16” and two charges of “Indecent liberties, parent, grandparent, etc. of a child less than 15”. According to the RSW Regional Jail website, Luckey, of the 200-block of Summit Ridge Rd., Front Royal, was booked into the northern Warren County facility at 7:03 p.m. Friday evening. Warrants on the three charges indicate fingerprinting of Luckey between 4:35 and 4:39 p.m. that afternoon. Court documents list the offense date as June 22, 2021, for all three charges.
William R. Luckey being booked into RSW Jail June 25 on child sex offense charges alleged to have occurred three days earlier. Photo RSW Jail website
Copies of warrants on those charges received from the Warren County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on Monday offer more disturbing detail. Of the two indecent liberties charges, Luckey is accused of “with lascivious intent knowingly and intentionally sexually abuse 10-year-old female …” and “that the accused feel or fondle the sexual or genital parts of such child”.
Of the solicitation charge the warrant alleges that Luckey “offer(ed) money or its equivalent to a minor under 16 years of age to … perform (various oral or sexually penetrative acts) upon or by another person … with the intent to sexually arouse or gratify and thereafter perform a substantial act in furtherance thereof.”
As noted above, the offense date on all three charges is listed as June 22, 2021, three days before Luckey’s arrest. Luckey is initially being held without bond. According to court documents he has a bond hearing scheduled this Thursday, July 1, at 3:30 p.m. and a preliminary hearing on August 5 at 10:30 a.m., both in Warren County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. According to that court clerk’s office, Luckey was initially represented by Thaddeus Furlong, an attorney out of Stafford, Virginia. An online check indicated “Sex Crimes” among his areas of expertise. The attorney also noted a “high-profile” client base.
A phone message left with Christendom College’s public affairs department at 1 p.m., Monday, seeking comment on the arrest had not been replied to by publication.
Of Luckey’s tenure at Christendom and other positions within Catholic educational and publication endeavors, Simcha Fisher wrote on Sunday:
“Luckey is listed as a professor emeritus on the school’s website. Luckey is a frequent writer for publications Faith and Reason, as well as the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty’s publication, The Journal of Markets and Morality. He has written on Catholic social teaching and the economy for Crisis Magazine, as well.
“Luckey is listed as an adjunct scholar for the Ludwig Von Mises Institute, Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, as well as a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and the advisory board for the Center for Economic Personalism.
“The small Catholic liberal arts college in Front Royal, VA began awarding a William R. Luckey award for Political Science and Economics in 2015, when Luckey retired as a teacher. Two days after the arrest, Luckey was still listed on Christendom’s website as a Professor Emeritus.”
Crime/Court
Missing juvenile located, Arkansas man arrested
A 14-year-old Frederick County juvenile has been located safely and an Arkansas man is under arrest, at this time, facing various charges to include abduction. Rae-Anna Allen was last seen leaving her home in Winchester on Sunday, January 9th around 11:07am and was later reported missing by her family. Deputy J.A. Tanner and Investigator B.J. Hazelwood worked in tandem to attempt to locate Rae-Anna and began re-tracing her movements through digital forensics and with the assistance of other law enforcement agencies. Electronic footprints had shown a strong possibility that Rae-Anna was mobile in a vehicle and no longer in Frederick County, or the Commonwealth of Virginia, by early Sunday evening.
Law enforcement officials in Virginia and Tennessee began checking for video surveillance along the I-81 corridor, in areas where cellphone towers indicated Rae-Anna’s phone had recently been active. The hope was to spot the juvenile, and any person she may be with, or a vehicle she might be traveling in for a nationwide Amber Alert to be issued. The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office had over 3,000 social media post shares of Rae-Anna’s disappearance that reached over 170,000 people including the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children who then shared that information to thousands more.
A possible location for Rae-Anna 1,100 miles from Winchester, in Arkansas, was obtained and is where the Hempstead County Sheriff’s Office executed a search of a home overnight. Sheriff’s deputies found Rae-Anna in the company of 22-year-old Christopher Lane Stone of Hope, Arkansas and immediately took the male into custody. In Frederick County, Deputy Tanner obtained a warrant for abduction that was served on Stone by HCSO at 2:48 am. A follow-up investigation is being conducted by the Arkansas authorities and further charges, from that jurisdiction, are pending.
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office wishes to acknowledge and thank: The Virginia State police BCI High Tech Division, the Blountville (TN) Sheriff’s Office, the Green County (TN) Sheriff’s Office, the United States Marshalls Service, the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children and the Hempstead County (AR) Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Lenny Millholland is proud of the work of his people, and grateful for the support and assistance from the community in getting critical information on Rae-Anna out to so many people so quickly, resulting in locating and bringing this missing juvenile home safely.
Frederick County Sheriff’s Office seeks help in locating missing teen
Crime/Court
New fencing up, Holloway’s ‘Dog Day’ in court ends with dismissal and payment of court costs
On the 10 a.m. Wednesday morning (Jan. 12) docket in Warren County General District Court, a misdemeanor charge of dogs running at large against Front Royal Mayor Chris Holloway was dismissed with payment of $104 in court costs. Holloway was not in court, but was represented by counsel John O’Neill. Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Lindsay LeHew represented the prosecution and Judge W. Dale Houff presided. The charge carries a maximum $200 fine.
Contacted outside the courtroom, O’Neill explained the resolution as typical of a defendant coming into compliance on this type of charge. He noted that Holloway’s construction of new fencing capable of holding his two large Bull Mastiffs on his Virginia Avenue property had been verified by involved Warren County Sheriff’s Office Deputy C.R. Clatterbuck and that the Commonwealth had been notified of the defendant’s effort to come into compliance in preventing future escapes of his two large canines.
Completed fencing preventing future dog escapes netted Chris Holloway a ‘dogs at large’ dismissal with court costs of $104. Royal Examiner Photo by Roger Bianchini
Holloway’s summons was issued on Nov. 28 in the wake of a complaint by Holloway neighbor Cheryl Langlais after she and her adult son were charged by the dogs along Virginia Avenue, one of which was said to have grabbed ahold of the son’s clothing in an aggressive manner. When multiple previous complaints involving the Holloway’s dogs were noted by law enforcement the summons was issued.
Mayor built fence prior to obtaining zoning permit – is a pattern emerging?
Crime/Court
Shooting death at Frederick County residence under investigation
At approximately 11:50 a.m. today (Dec. 30), a shooting was reported in the 100 block of Dick’s Hollow Road in Frederick County which has resulted in the death of one person.
- The Sheriff’s Office can confirm that a male subject was shot by the homeowner during some type of verbal or physical altercation.
- There were multiple subjects in the residence at the time with one subject fatally struck by gunfire.
- Early indications are that there was only a single shot fired.
- The subject who fired the weapon is in custody.
- There is no ongoing threat to the community currently.
- The identity of the victim is not being released pending notification of next of kin.
Details are limited at this time as this incident remains an active crime scene with law enforcement still processing evidence and speaking to witnesses and suspects. A more detailed press release will be forthcoming in the future.
Crime/Court
Holloway cited in November dog charge
After numerous complaints of his large mastiff dogs running loose in the neighborhood Mayor Chris Holloway has been issued a summons to appear in Warren County Circuit Court on Jan. 12, 2022, at 10 a.m.
According to a November 28 citation issued by Warren County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant C.R. Clatterbuck, Holloway was charged with a single count of dogs running at large, which carries a maximum $200 penalty.
Clatterbuck’s incident report states he arrived in the area of Academy Drive and Virginia Avenue for a dog bite call and “observed two very large brown dogs in the middle of Academy Drive.” He wrote that he “observed a male subject (identified as Holloway) attempting to contain the dogs, but the dogs were not listening.” Once the dogs were contained and Clatterbuck spoke to Holloway, the dog owner “explained that his dogs were nice and did not bite anyone,” the report states.
Holloway’s property is from the Virginia Avenue/Academy Drive intersection near where the incident occurred. Royal Examiner File Photo by Roger Bianchini
The citizen who made the initial call for assistance, Cheryl Langlais, reached out to Royal Examiner the evening of the incident. She relayed that she and her adult son had been walking in their neighborhood when the dogs approached the pair in a menacing manner. She stated that the dogs had frequently roamed the neighborhood and she felt that the situation was “an accident waiting to happen”.
Langlais said in a telephone interview that the dogs were “growling and barking before grabbing my son’s arm and leg.” It was at that point that Langlais called police, hastily telling the dispatcher that the dog had “bitten my child” before ending the call and attempting to help her son.
Langlais explained that though the dog grabbed her son, its teeth had latched on to loose portions of his clothing and not penetrated to his skin. Clatterbuck’s report confirmed that there was no bite injury and noted that the dogs had “come up to them and nudged them hard.”
Upon speaking to Holloway, Clatterbuck writes in the report that “Mr. Holloway showed me in the rear of his fence, he had green fence post driven into the ground to attempt to contain the dogs due to a short fence issue.” Holloway, according to the incident report, stated that he had been pricing fencing at a local store and planned to install a new fence.
Fence construction is underway on Dec. 5 at the rear of the property off Academy Drive near the R-MA entrance. Below, a sign warning ‘beware of the dog’ as well as ‘no trespassing’ signage was posted on Holloway’s property the morning after the incident. Courtesy Photos
Following that conversation, Clatterbuck wrote that he contacted dispatch and “spoke to other deputies who both advised me we have dealt with the same issue with same dogs multiple times.” He stated that Holloway was issued a summons for dog at large and given information regarding available fencing.
Langlais told Royal Examiner that she had tried to be neighborly regarding Holloway’s dogs and had tried to help “round them up” in the past when they had escaped from the waist-high fence.
“All of this could have been avoided with an act of civility on Holloway’s part, had he simply apologized or inquired if everyone was okay. He is not neighborly, not a good citizen, particularly as a leader.”
Royal Examiner reached out to Holloway for comment, but he did not respond.
Crime/Court
UPDATE: I-81 Rest Area Shooting Suspect Deceased; Investigation Remains Ongoing
The investigation continues into a shooting that occurred at a Frederick County Rest Area along Interstate 81 Sunday (Dec. 26) morning.
Shortly before 9:30 a.m., a man and woman became engaged in a domestic dispute at the southbound I-81 Rest Area at the 320-mile marker. When the dispute turned physical, several individuals who happened to be at the Rest Area tried to intervene for the woman’s safety. The 34-year-old male, Cesar Juarez Avila, then began firing at the woman and individuals who had intervened. The woman and three males were shot. Avila fled the Rest Area driving a Chevrolet Malibu.
Photos courtesy of Virginia State Police.
The female and two male victims were transported to Winchester Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. A third male victim was flown to Fairfax Inova Hospital for treatment of serious, but non-life-threatening, injuries.
State police, with the assistance of the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, secured the Rest Area and began actively following up on leads concerning Avila’s whereabouts.
Shortly after 12 p.m. Sunday, a Frederick County Sheriff’s Deputy spotted the Chevrolet Malibu traveling on Airport Road in Frederick County. When the sheriff’s deputy and state police pulled in behind the Chevrolet, it sped away and a short pursuit ensued. Law enforcement positioned their vehicles around the suspect vehicle and forced it to a stop. When the Malibu came to a stop, law enforcement witnessed shots being fired inside the Malibu. When troopers approached the vehicle, they located Avila in the driver’s seat suffering from a gunshot wound.
Avila was transported to Winchester Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries. Avila’s body was transported to the Office of the Medical Examiner in Manassas for autopsy and examination.
No law enforcement discharged their weapons during the course of the incident. A handgun was recovered from inside the Malibu.
The incident remains under investigation by the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Culpeper Field Office.
The I-81 southbound Rest Area was reopened to the public at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday.
Crime/Court
Virginia State Police investigating deputy-involved shooting in Rappahannock County
At the request of Rappahannock County Sheriff Connie Compton, Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, and Madison County Sheriff Erik Weaver, the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation Culpeper Field Office is investigating a pursuit and shooting that involved their personnel.
At 5:30 p.m. Friday (Dec. 17, 2021), the Town of Culpeper Police Department issued a “Be On the Lookout” to regional law enforcement for Jeremy A. Yates, 21, of Culpeper, Va. An Emergency Custody Order (ECO) had been obtained for him and it was believed that he may be armed with a gun.
At approximately 9 p.m., a Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy observed a 2018 Chevrolet Colorado stopped in the roadway on Rt. 231 (Etlan Rd) in Madison County. As deputies from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office approached the Chevrolet, Yates sped away and a pursuit ensued. During the course of the pursuit, Yates began firing shots at passing vehicles. When the pursuit continued north on Rt. 231 into Rappahannock County, a Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Deputy became involved in the pursuit. It was during this time that Yates fired and struck a Rappahannock County Deputy’s vehicle multiple times.
As Yates was driving south on Rt. 707 (Slate Mills Rd) near the intersection of Rt. 644 (Reva Rd) – which is inside the Rappahannock County but right at the Culpeper County line – he began shooting at Culpeper County Sheriff’s Deputies who were stopped in the roadway and facing north on Slate Mills Road. The Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office personnel returned fire. The Chevrolet Colorado then ran off the left side of the road, collided with an embankment, and overturned.
Deputies attempted to render first aid, but Yates died at the scene. His remains were transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Manassas for examination and autopsy.
Two handguns were recovered from the Chevrolet Colorado.
No deputies or other persons were injured during the incident. No citizens have reported their vehicles being struck by bullets from when Yates was firing at other vehicles.
The investigation remains ongoing at this time.
Anyone with additional information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 540-829-7400 or questions@vsp.virginia.gov.
Thank You to our Local Business Participants:
