80 year old pleads no contest for stealing firearm after wife turns him in

By Linda Cicoira

An 80-year-old Exmore area man pleaded no contest Thursday in Accomack Circuit Court to stealing a firearm from a woman he had worked for after his wife reported the incident to police following a domestic dispute between the couple.

Judgment was deferred for Alfonzo Johnson, of Morley’s Wharf Road, for a year. He was given that time to stay on good behavior so that the charge could be reduced to a misdemeanor. Johnson is prohibited from contacting the victim, a widow who lived in Parksley on June 17, when the offense occurred.

The court views a plea of no contest in the same way it does a plea of guilty. However, it means the defendant retains his innocence but admits the evidence is enough to convict him.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney William Fox said police responded to a domestic dispute along an unspecified roadside. Johnson’s wife told officers her husband stole two firearms, a long gun and a pistol, from an employer.

“She didn’t want firearms in her house or to have a part” in the theft, the prosecutor said. The defendant’s wife said he threw the pistol in the water in the Pocomoke, Md. area, but a dive team was unable to find it. A 16-gauge Sears & Roebuck shotgun was found on the couple’s property and matched with documents the owner had.

Johnson told authorities the employer gave the gun to him as payment for part of the work he did for her. Fox said the Parksley woman told them she did not pay him with the firearm.

     The deferred finding was sought because the victim got the shotgun back and did not want Johnson to go to jail.