New Facebook Online Post of Supervisor Carter RSW Jail Booking Relates to Earlier Plea Agreement Terms

Earlier this week Royal Examiner was forwarded an online post from a Facebook website “BustedNewspaper” narrowed down to “RSW Regional Jail VA”. The post showed a jail booking-into-custody mugshot of Warren County Happy Creek District Supervisor Tony F. Carter. The Booking Date was shown as Friday, November 6, 2026, with a release date of Sunday, November 8, 2026.

While the website information was vague, the indication appeared to be that Carter had again been arrested and booked into jail here. Royal Examiner readers will recall that Carter had a misdemeanor DUI (Driving Under the Influence) charge dating to January 2026. Previously, he had a 2023 DUI charge that had been amended down to Reckless Driving.

The bottom line here is that Carter was not recently charged with any new criminal offense, but was rather serving a portion of a previously court-ordered five days of incarceration that may be served on weekends so as not to unduly interfere with the involved person’s work or day-to-day weekly responsibilities.

Below, we track the details of the legal situation that led to Carter’s recent weekend stay at RSW Jail.

Seeking more detail on the new incarceration dates, this reporter went to the RSW Jail website to search the “RSW Inmate Locator”. After typing Carter’s name into the “ALL” inmates category, the details of his weekend RSW visit included the custody dates cited above, but no criminal charge was listed.

A “Weekender” from old charges

In fact, Carter was referred to as a “Weekender” at the jail.

At an October 14th hearing in Warren County General District Court, Carter’s defense counsel, David Hensely, and Special Prosecutor Heather Hovermale (Winchester Commonwealth’s Attorney) reached a plea agreement in the Misdemeanor DUI (Driving Under the Influence) cases against Carter.

Carter pleaded “No Contest” to the 2026 charge of DUI and was ruled guilty by Judge Michael Helm. He was fined $1,000, with all but $250 of that suspended.

More pointedly, regarding Carter’s recent weekend booking, he was ordered to serve 120 days in RSW Jail, with all but 10 days suspended on the 2023 charge. With further conditions in the plea agreement, Carter must serve only five of those 10 days, all of which may be served on weekends. The incarceration time frames were due to a probation violation count. That violation was the 2026 DUI conviction during the still-active probation on the 2023 reckless driving conviction.

And there is the bottom line on this “Weekender’s” recent two-day stay at RSW Jail, serving a portion of the 5 days of incarceration ordered by Judge Michael Helm.

Contacted, Carter verified that he had been serving a two-day portion of the five-day weekend incarcerations ordered on the earlier charge.

While he declined further comment, in the wake of his January 2026 arrest and subsequent plea-agreement convictions, Carter had apologized to constituents, friends, and family for his lapsed judgment that led to the January 2026 charges.

“Today, I declined to contest, and I accept the verdict of the Warren County General District Court,” Carter told us at the time of the October 14th plea agreement hearing, adding, “More importantly, I apologize to my family, as well as my many friends and supporters for my lapse in judgment. Over the next three years, I intend to work hard to deserve the trust that the people of Warren County have consistently placed in me over my last 30 years of public service.”