Front Royal man facing drug charges refuses to leave RSW for court appearance

Bradley David Light – Courtesy Photo/RSW Jail

A man arrested in downtown Front Royal Feb. 27, 2018 on drug distribution/manufacture charges stemming from a Drug Task Force sting operation bought himself an additional charge on Friday, March 1. Court documents indicate Bradley David Light, 54, of 409 East Jackson Street refused to be transported from RSW Regional Jail (Rappahannock-Shenandoah-Warren) for a scheduled court hearing.

According to a notation on a capias-Failure to Appear warrant issued Friday, March 1, “Light refused to go to court… refused to get in van – said he was claustrophobic.”

Criminal Complaints filed in Warren County General District Court two days earlier indicate that Light faces an initial charge of narcotics distribution (manufacture/etc.) related to the purchase of the drug buprenorphine by a confidential informant working with the Virginia State Police Drug Task Force unit.

A second charge of manufacture/etc. of a controlled substance came as a result of a subsequent search warrant executed at 409 East Jackson Street. The initial criminal complaint was filed at 1:30 p.m., the second at 9 p.m. – both on Wednesday, Feb. 27.

Sources in the area at the time told Royal Examiner that a search warrant was served between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 27)  and included a megaphone-delivered instruction to evacuate the premises with your hands up, followed shortly by delivery of a flash-bang device designed to force an occupant out of a space they are refusing to exit in a timely manner.

409 E. Jackson St. with lower level storage area door open and contents in yard – Photos/Roger Bianchini

The criminal complaint resulting from the search warrant executed just about three blocks from the soon-to-be-vacant interim Front Royal Police Headquarters at 23 East Jackson Street states that items seized at the scene included a “Hydrochloric gas generator, one pot, empty Pseudoedrin package, hypophosphite salts, liquefied ammonia gas, and hydrochloric acid.”

Another page in the complaint stemming from the search warrant references “manufacture (of) methamphetamine, its salts, somers”.

According to the general district court clerk’s office another attempt to transport Light from the RSW Jail, where he is being held without bond, for a bond hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, March 5.

A view of what appears to be the main entrance on second floor of 409 E. Jackson St.