Bond granted for one, denied for two others

By Linda Cicoira

A Belle Haven man, who has been held in Accomack Jail for about six weeks for an alleged decade-old aggravated sexual battery charge involving a child younger than 13, was given bond Thursday.

Judge Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. of Accomack Circuit Court granted a $5,000 secured bond for 28-year-old Juan Antonia Granada, of Hood Lane. The offense was alleged to have occurred on July 8, 2015. Granada was born in Texas and moved with his family to the Eastern Shore of Virginia when he was four.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney William Fox said the case is “incredibly concerning,” and he was not agreeable to bond considering the charge. He said the girl involved was six or seven years old in 2015. She and her family do not live in the area.

Defense lawyer Richard Phillips said his client was not a flight risk as his family lives here and he will return to his landscaping job as soon as he is freed.

In another case, a bond was denied for Antonio Morales of Onancock, who is accused of abduction by force or intimidation and strangulation on Aug. 17. The defendant has been in the area for about two years and required a Spanish interpreter.

Prosecutor Fox said Morales was alleged to have left his four-year-old home alone when he went to check on the child’s mother. He caught her at a house down the street with another man. Fox considered Morales a flight risk. The prosecutor alleged the defendant broke a window to the other man’s home where he fought him before beating his child’s mother.

Defense lawyer Shannon Dunham said Morales has been in jail for about three months. She said a jury trial is likely and wouldn’t be held for at least a year. He had a place to stay, would return to work, and had a row of people and church family in the courtroom supporting him, the lawyer contended.

“Alcohol was certainly involved,” she said. If there was a violation of the protective order, it was when he called to inquire about his child. Dunham said the language barrier kept him from understanding that was not permitted.

Judge Lewis found he was a flight risk and poses a danger to others. A grand jury is expected to review the charges on Dec. 2.

     A third man was also denied bond. Thirty-year-old Daniel Lee Gray, of Parksley, who has a history of post-traumatic stress disorder, was denied bond when Lewis found him too volitive to be released. “If he gets in a program, we’ll cut him loose immediately,” the judge agreed. Gray was charged with assaulting a family member.