Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok says the man believed to have carjacked a vehicle outside of a grocery store in the Manassas area has been arrested and charged. 32-year-old Jeremy Ray Stanley, who was listed as having no fixed address, is facing charges of grand larceny and carjacking for the September 10th incident.

Police say the 46-year-old female victim was leaving the West Gate Shopping Plaza's Giant Food store on Sudley Road just before 10 a.m. when she was approached from behind. The suspect then is said to have demanded money and her car keys, driving away with her 2005 Toyota Camry. The woman, who has not been identified publicly, described the carjacker as having a slim build, appearing to be between the ages of 30 and 35 years old, and standing approximately six feet tall. She indicated he wore a dark jacket and blue jeans, and carried a backpack. The following day, police arrested Stanley, who is said to have matched the victim's description of her attacker.

Police indicated that the victim was alone and the time of the carjacking, and that she did not sustain any injuries during the incident. During the crime, the carjacker did not imply he had nor did he display a weapon. Surveillance video of the alleged suspect shortly before the incident was released to the press before the arrest was made, and police appealed to the public to identify the man shown on the tape. Following the incident, the suspect was last spotted leaving northbound on Sudley Road heading toward Interstate 66.

Sudley has not been granted bond, and it was not disclosed whether he has been assigned or retained a Virginia criminal lawyer to face the charges against him. A court date for Stanley has been set for October 18th.

This article is presented by Price Benowitz LLP, serving Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. For more information, please visit our Washington DC Criminal Lawyer and Maryland Criminal Defense Attorney websites.

Alvin Daniels of Alexandria was convicted on charges of obstruction of justice for calling in a false tip in the high profile missing persons case of college student Morgan Harrington. Harrington's disappearance from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville last October sparked widespread interest in the area.

Less than a month after Virginia State Police opened a tip line to source leads in the investigation, Daniels called in to provide a tip on November 11th. Without providing his identity, he told Virginia State police that a 34-year-old Prince William County man was "responsible" for Harrington's disappearance. Law enforcement officials followed up on the information, quickly arriving at the conclusion that the tip was not accurate. Daniels was arrested in June, and charged in Appomattox County, the location of the Virginia State Police tip line. State Police spokeswoman Corinne Gellar indicated that the false tip was "an act of vengeance on the part of Daniels," though she did not elaborate on the relationship between the two men.

Daniels was found guilty on August 11th in Appomattox General District Court. He was sentenced to six months in prison, though that sentence was suspended. He also received 12 months of unsupervised probation, was ordered to pay $1,600 in restitution to the State Police for the time spent on investigating the false lead, and was forbidden to have any contact with the 34-year-old victim. In a statement, a police spokesman addressed the frustration that stems from misuse of tip lines.

"The public does need to be aware that there are penalties for purposely misleading investigators with a tip," State Police Lt. Joe Rader said in a news release. "In this instance, our investigators had to spend valuable time away from the Morgan Harrington case in order to vet an intentional false lead."

Harrington's body was found in a remote area on a farm near Charlottesville in January. The investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death remains open.

This article is presented by The Law Office of Price Benowitz, LLP, serving Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. For more information, please visit our Maryland Criminal Defense Lawyer and Washington DC Criminal Lawyer websites.

A 22-year-old man was convicted on August 8th in Prince William Circuit Court in relation to the 2008 murder of a Popeye's manager during the commission of a robbery in Dale City. James Carolina was one of three men charged in the shooting death of 23-year-old Keith Truesdale on January 22nd of that year.

Police say Carolina and accomplice Andre Williams entered the Smoketown Road Popeye's in Dale City on January 22nd, intending to rob it. A third man, Daniel Lipscomb, was accused of driving the men to the scene. Police say Carolina was armed with a knife and Williams with a handgun. The two allegedly detained the store's employees, demanding Truesdale open the safe. Truesdale, who normally managed a different Popeye's location, did not know the safe's combination. When he and a fellow employee attempted to flee, Williams fired the shot that fatally injured Truesdale. The wounded man managed to exit the restaurant, but eventually died of his injuries.

Although the incident was recorded by surveillance cameras, the case remained unsolved until April of 2008 because the suspects on the tape had obscured their faces. On April 11th, Williams contacted police to confess his role in the crime, and implicated Carolina and Lipscomb. He later recanted his confession in a letter before changing his story a third time, saying all three men were involved in the crime. Williams eventually pleaded guilty to attempted robbery, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and capitol murder, and is awaiting sentencing. Lipscomb was charged with the same crimes and is set to be tried in October.

Carolina entered an Alford plea to the charge of abduction in Prince William Circuit Court. An Alford plea enables a defendant not to admit guilt to a crime while acknowledging that sufficient evidence exists to secure a conviction if a case goes to trial. Carolina's sentencing is scheduled for November 4th, and a judge will decide at that time whether to accept the plea. Prosecutors are requesting Carolina be sentenced to 35 years in prison, with 33 years of that sentence suspended. He is expected to get credit to time served since his arrest.

This article is presented by The Law Office of Price Benowitz, LLP, serving Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. For more information, please visit our Maryland Criminal Defense Attorney and Washington DC Criminal Defense Lawyer websites.

Prince William County police say they have arrested a 34-year-old Woodbridge man following multiple alleged sexual assaults against a 10-year-old girl. Leonel Vega-Perez was apprehended on August 8th at his home on Delmar Drive in Woodbridge, and he remains jailed in Prince William County. It is unclear whether Vega-Perez has been assigned or has retained a Virginia criminal lawyer to face the multiple felonies with which he is charged.

Jonathan Perok, a spokesman for Prince William County police, say that Vega-Perez knew the alleged victim's family, but did not elaborate on the man's relationship to the child. Relatives of the child reported several incidents that are said to have occurred between July 1st and August 8th at locations in Prince William County and Manassas Park. Police in both jurisdictions have launched a joint investigation to determine the facts of the case.

Vega-Perez is charged with three counts each of rape and object penetration, and two additional counts of aggravated sexual battery. He is being held without bond at the Prince William-Manassas regional jail. Upon examining Vega-Perez's immigration status, police also determined that he was in the United States illegally at the time of the incidents. Jail officials have contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding his status.

The case against Vega-Perez is the second high-profile crime involving an undocumented immigrant to make headlines in Virginia since the beginning of August. Earlier this month, 23-year-old Carlos Martinelly-Montano was charged in relation to the DUI crash that resulted in the death of 66-year-old Benedictine Sister Denise Mosier. Two other women from Sister Mosier's order were injured in the August 2nd collision, and the incident has sparked widespread outcry due to Martinelly-Montano's immigration status.

This article is presented by The Law Office of Price Benowitz, LLP, serving Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. For more information, please visit our Maryland Criminal Defense Lawyer and DC Criminal Defense Lawyer websites.

A 33-year-old special education teacher has been placed on unpaid administrative leave from Deer Park Elementary school in Centreville, and the experienced educator stands accused of "mistreating" two autistic students who were assigned to her classroom. Jennah Billeter of Fairfax surrendered to police Sunday, and was charged with two counts of felony cruelty to children and one misdemeanor count of simple assault. It is not currently clear whether the teacher has retained or been assigned a Virginia criminal lawyer to face the charges against her.

Billeter, who turned herself in to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, was first reported to Child Protective Services in early July. An investigation by those authorities centered around the teacher's treatment of two boys in her class, aged four and five. Law enforcement officials, the school district administration and Deer Park Elementary Principal Carol Larsen opted not to provide further information on what type of incidents may have lead to the investigation and subsequent charges, but Larsen described the series of events that lead to the charges in a letter distributed Monday to parents. The principal stated that the potential abuse was first brought to her attention by a school staffer, and that observation was what led to the involvement of Child Protective Services.

While police did not provide details of the alleged assaults on the two boys, they confirmed neither child required medical treatment as a result of the incidents. The spokesman for Billeter's school district, Paul Regnier, indicated that Billeter has been an employee of the district since she began working as a substitute in 2002. After she became a permanent teacher in 2003, Billeter worked at Clifton Elementary and Bull Run Elementary before being placed at Deer Park in 2007.

This article is presented by The Law Office of Price Benowitz, LLP, serving Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. For more information, please visit our Maryland Criminal Attorneys and DC Criminal Attorneys websites.