Indictments handed down in Accomack County

By Linda Cicoira

Fifteen people were indicted by an Accomack Grand Jury Monday on charges of arson, car-jacking, felony theft, drug offenses, construction fraud, forgery, and assaults on police officers.

Thirty-four-year-old Asia Renee Woolford, of Cropper Lane in New Church, was accused in an indictment of setting a Jan. 4 fire that severely damaged a two-story house on Greta Road in Atlantic. The homeowner, Nelson Cancel, had evicted Woolford the previous day.

Firefighters arrived to find fire and dark smoke predominantly coming from the front left side of the first floor. The blaze, which was later found to be deliberately set, eventually spread to the second story.

Woolford told investigators at the scene that she wasn’t there when the fire started and had already moved her belongings out. She said she didn’t notice anything abnormal while there. She claimed the back door was left open.

Cancel told an investigator that he bought the house in November of 2024 and was informed by the previous owner that there was a squatter. The new owner said Woolford told him that it was her house. Cancel said he offered her money to assist with moving, but eventually he had to evict her.

Twenty-two-year-old Thomas Tyyale Johnson, of Lankford Highway in Nassawadox, was accused in indictments of ordering Doroteo Lopez Morales out of a car and stealing it on Jan. 2.

According to a criminal complaint, Lopez Morales was sitting in the driver’s seat of the car in the parking lot of the Dollar General in Mappsville when Johnson allegedly appeared concealing a bladed item in his left hand.

The document stated that Johnson told the victim to “put the phone down, get out of the car, give me the keys, give me the keys, get out of the car, get the f… out of the car now, get the f.. out of the car.” When Lopez Morales complied, the suspect “got in, started the car, and drove off,” the complaint continued.

It was unclear if or how the victim was related to the car’s owner, Isual Juarez Morales. The make and model of the vehicle were not disclosed. However, the value was estimated at between about $3,000 and $4,100.

Thirty-four-year-old Kelly Joe Fordham, of 4th Street in Chesapeake Beach, Md., was indicted on counts of burglary at Collision Works in Tasley on Feb. 23. He was also accused of stealing vehicles from other locations that belonged to Stephen Overton, Jose Vazques Hernandez, and William Nottingham.

Fifty-year-old Bryan Jacob Herold, with addresses on Townsend Drive in Cape Charles and Richmond, Va., was indicted on a count of obtaining more than $1,000 in advance pay for construction and failing or refusing to complete the work for Gia Owens on Sept. 17, 2024.

Owens told authorities that she was forced to hire three other companies to rectify the damage caused and to complete the project.

Herold admitted to a magistrate that “not all the work was completed, but the homeowner changed the septic install after he had purchased the material.” He also said, “Hostile text messages were sent to him.”

Thirty-nine-year-old Richard William Bagwell Jr., of Accomac, was indicted on a count of assaulting Sgt. J. Stevens, of the Chincoteague Police Department, on March 16. Records accuse him of kicking the officer when he was being put in the squad car at the Days Inn, where management contended Bagwell had urinated on the lobby floor and had thrown things.

Forty-year-old Robert Earl Buckner Jr., of Clam Road in Bloxom, was indicted on counts of assaulting Sgt. J. Sharp and Cpl. S. Henning of the Accomack County Sheriff’s Office on March 29.

Twenty-six-year-old Hannah Rose Lillston, of Magnolia Drive on Chincoteague, was indicted on two counts of forgery and two counts of uttering on Aug. 29, 2024. The checks totaled more than $435.

Twenty-five-year-old Rayshauna V. Washington, of Neal Parker Road in Withams, was indicted on counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a loaded pistol while possessing methamphetamine. The incidents are alleged to have occurred on Feb. 14.

Fifty-four-year-old Roland Eugene Jones, of Gateway Street in Salisbury, Md., was indicted on a count of stealing more than $1,400 worth of property belonging to Walmart in Onley on Feb. 10.

Forty-three-year-old Roshun K. Austin, of Elihu Wallop Lane in Horntown, was indicted on a count of stealing property valued at $1,000 or more from Walmart on Aug. 24, 2024.