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Tuesday, dec 24

Zak Failla

Assistant Managing Editor

zfailla@dailyvoice.com

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Equal parts Lois Lane, J. Jonah Jameson and Vicki Vale, Zak! has traveled from coast-to-coast covering small and big town community news in both in print and online for nearly a decade since his graduation from the award-winning Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in 2010.

Before settling into the Hudson Valley, Zak! previously spent time in the New York Daily News newsroom and worked for hyperlocal digital news outlets on Long Island. He wrote sports for The Ithacan and The Ithaca Journal before taking his talents to the Pacific Northwest, where he served as the sports editor at the Shoshone News-Press until heading back east to work with Daily Voice.

Zak Failla's Contributions

Police & Fire

Former Sheriff In Virginia Convicted Of Selling Badges For Bribes: Feds A former sheriff in Virginia is facing decades in prison after being convicted for accepting bribes in exchange for handing out deputy badges and law enforcement credentials, federal authorities announced. Scott Howard Jenkins, 53, of Culpeper, was found guilty by a jury in Charlottesville this week for a bribery scheme involving more than $75,000 in bribes. Prosecutors said Jenkins accepted the money—both as cash and campaign contributions—from multiple individuals, including undercover FBI agents. In return, Jenkins appointed them as auxiliary deputy sheriffs, a sworn law enf…

12/20/2024

Police & Fire

Driver Wanted For Dui-related Manslaughter After Fatal Prince William County Crash: Police Police in Prince William County have identified a 62-year-old driver wanted in connection to a fatal head-on crash over the summer. Warrants have been issued for Woodbridge resident James Francis Byrd, who was allegedly the Lexus driver who struck and killed Thomas Spencer Stark in August. According to the Prince William County Police Department, shortly before 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 28, a Toyota Tundra was heading east on Bristow Road in Nokesville when the driver crossed over the center median and struck Stark head-on in the area of Windy Hill Drive. The Nokesville resident was rushed to an a…

12/20/2024

Police & Fire

City Leaders Decry Neglect Following Fire at Historic Virginia Inteermont College Campus A massive fire at the former Virginia Intermont College campus in Bristol tore through several buildings overnight in what seemed like an inevitability to at least one City Council member. Questions are being raised following the massive fire, which broke out shortly after 1 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 20 and rapidly spread. Crews were still reportedly at the scene early on Friday morning attempting to get the blaze under control following reported ceiling collapses. The Kingsport Fire Department responded to a mutual aid call from the Bristol, VA Fire Department on the former campus of…

12/20/2024

Police & Fire

Deputies Bust Suspected Fredericksburg Dealer After Fatal OD: Dangerous Drugs Seized: Sheriff A Fredericksburg man is behind bars after a fatal overdose investigation led to the seizure of dangerous drugs in Stafford County. On Sunday, Dec. 15, Stafford County deputies responded to a suspected overdose death in North Stafford, according to the sheriff’s office. Detectives with the Special Investigations Unit joined the case, which soon prompted an operation involving the county SWAT Team. On Wednesday, investigators conducted a traffic stop near Warrenton Road and South Gateway Drive, where detectives seized heroin, 90 fentanyl pills, and xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer o…

12/20/2024

Police & Fire

Speeding Driver Charged With DWI For Fatal Rollover BMW Crash In Fairfax County: Police The speeding driver who was allegedly responsible for a crash that claimed the life of a 23-year-old Herndon woman earlier this year is facing multiple charges, Fairfax County Police officials announced on Thursday. Rendon resident Ayaan Usmani, 23, has been charged in connection to the fatal rollover crash in a 2019 BMW M850I that left his passenger, Tina Habibi with fatal injuries. Officers from the Reston Police District responded to the crash at 2:40 a.m. on Nov. 23 near Fairfax County Parkway and Elden Street, where the BMW had left the roadway, flipped over, and came to rest. Police …

12/19/2024

News

Man Who Called For Ride About Possible STD In Dumfries Gets Prison Time For Motel Shooting The man responsible for a shooting at a Maryland motel will spend decades in prison, the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office announced in Prince William County. Ishmeal McGriff was sentenced this week to 28 years in prison, with eight years suspended and 20 years to serve, followed by a term of supervised probation when he is released, according to authorities. The incident unfolded on March 26, 2023, outside the Econo Lodge in Dumfries, when Prince William County Police oficers responded to reports of a shooting and found that McGriff had called a friend to take him to the hospi…

12/19/2024

Police & Fire

Homicide Mystery: Charles County Man Found Dead In Field Near Home: Sheriff (Developing) A quiet Hughesville neighborhood was shaken after a man was found dead in a field near his home, with investigators now ruling the case a homicide. Officers responded at 10:40 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18 to the 6800 block of Swann Gate Place after receiving a report of a body in a field, authorities said. The victim, identified as Paul Sherwood Swann, 60, lived in a nearby house, police said. Swann’s body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, where an autopsy determined the manner of death was homicide. No motive has been established, and the investigatio…

12/19/2024

News

'Real Housewives' Star Karen Huger Convicted Of Maryland DUI, May Seek Appeal: Reports Karen Huger, who made her name starring on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Potomac" has reportedly been convicted of an alleged DUI crash in Maryland earlier this year, according to FOX and other national outlets. The 61-year-old was found guilty by a jury of driving under the influence, negligent driving, and other offenses following a March crash in Montgomery County. She has been on the show since it premiered in 2016. She is also a graduate of the University of Virginia, and is the "Grand Dame of Potomac," according to Bravo. Not Karen Huger telling the cop who arrested her after he…

12/19/2024

News

Bus Stop 'Axe Murderer' Who Killed Deaf Cellmate In Maryland Gets Life In Prison: Prosecutors Gordon Staron is going to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Staron, formerly of Abingdon, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of an elderly man, and then later, his deaf cellmate while he was incarcerated, according to the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office on Thursday. Staron pleaded guilty of the first-degree murder of Javarick Gantt in the Baltimore City's Central Booking and Intake Facility after previously admitting to killing 66-year-old Keith Bell with an axe at a bus stop. The fatal stabbing was reported in the early hours of Sept. 6 , 202…

12/19/2024

News

Cold CASE: Serial Abuser Learns Fate In Court For 1981 Rapes In Maryland: State's Attorney A 67-year-old man may spend the rest of his life in prison after admitting to rape and sexual assault stemming from a pair of attacks dating back to 1981 in Montgomery County, authorities announced on Thursday. Marion Pearson, now living in North Carolina, pleaded guilty in October to second-degree rape and sex assault for the attacks of two victims in separate attacks in April and June 1981. On Thursday, Dec. 19, authorities announced that Pearson was sentenced by a judge in Montgomery County to 40 years in prison suspending all but 17 years to serve and two years of superv…

12/19/2024

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