Loudoun News Briefs

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Volunteers to Get Training For the Removal of Signs

A training session for volunteers who would like to participate in Loudoun County’s sign collection program will take place at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 18 in the boardroom of the Loudoun County Government Center, 1 Harrison St. SE, Leesburg.

The Board of Supervisors recently approved the continuation of a program to remove illegally placed signs from within state rights of way in the county. More than 8,000 signs were removed during the pilot phase of the program, which ran from April through last month.

Before participating in a sign collection pickup, residents must attend a training and orientation session and be registered as volunteers.

For information, call Zoning Administration at 703-777-0397.

Police Seek Man Who Stole Meat From Store

Loudoun County sheriff’s officials are searching for a man who stole four packages of meat from the Sterling Safeway on July 20.

The man tucked the meat under his arm and walked out of the store and into a white Chevy Cavalier with Maryland license plate number 7EPM22.

Another man sat in the car, slumped in the seat.

Sheriff’s officials said the store’s manager thinks the suspect has been in the store before and might live in the area.

Middleburg Man Arrested On Gun, Drug Charges

Local and federal authorities have arrested a Middleburg man wanted on charges of gun possession, cocaine distribution and other crimes, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

William “Martin” Thomas was stopped and arrested last week without incident on the Loudoun and Fauquier county line after his vehicle was observed at a Middleburg gas station.

A federal grand jury has indicted Thomas on two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, maintaining a drug-involved premises and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Thomas was taken to the Alexandria City Adult Detention Center on July 23 and later transferred to the custody of the United States Marshals Service.

Thomas’s alleged activities were discovered during the investigation of a series of commercial burglaries in downtown Middleburg in which Thomas’s nephew, Anthony Roberts, and a juvenile co-defendant have been charged. Roberts and the juvenile are being held on the burglary charges, and Roberts is also being held on charges of burglary and larceny of firearms from Loudoun Guns in Leesburg in April.

The downtown burglaries were investigated in a coordinated effort by the sheriff’s office, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosions and the Leesburg and Middleburg police.

— Compiled by KAFIA A. HOSH

Tagged: Board of Supervisors, Fauquier, Loudoun Sheriff's Office, Sterling, theft, volunteers

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