England Caught
<bt>After fleeing the county 18 months ago, a former Loudoun County Public School and mental-health employee accused of taking indecent liberties with children has been apprehended.
According to the Sheriff's Office, Franklin Todd England, 40, who once live in Leesburg, fled the area after he was charged by Loudoun Sheriff's Investigators in November 2004 with two felony counts of indecent liberties with a child. England was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond and did not appear at his next court hearing.
Sheriff's investigators working in conjunction with the United States Secret Service located England in San Francisco, Calif. He was taken into custody June 5 and brought back to Loudoun County Thursday night after waiving extradition. As part of the continuing investigation England is now charged with possession of child pornography, the production of child pornography and a total of five counts of indecent liberties with a minor child.
England was a school social worker based at the school system's Douglass Support facility as well as Loudoun County mental-health employee.
The charges stem from a joint investigation between the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division, the Virginia State Police, the Virginia Office of the Inspector General, the Loudoun Commonwealth Attorney's Office and the U.S. Secret Service.
England is being held at the Loudoun Adult Detention Center in Leesburg without bond.
<sh>Meeting Changed
<bt>Due to the Fourth of July holiday, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will hold its first regular business meeting of July on Wednesday, July 5, beginning at 9:30 a.m., in the board room of the Loudoun County Government Center, 1 Harrison St., S.E. in Leesburg.
The board's business meetings are normally held the first and third Tuesday of the month.
Also, the board has scheduled a second public hearing for July, at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 25, to provide for the summer recess during the month of August. The board will hold its regular monthly public hearing as scheduled Tuesday, July 11, at 6:30 p.m.
Documents for board meetings, including packets for business meetings and public hearings, are available on the Loudoun County Government Web site at www.loudoun.gov/bos/documents.htm.
<sh>Milburn Guilty
<bt>After two days of evidence, a Loudoun County jury found Benjamin Milburn guilty June 23 of the two-count indictment of rape and abduction with intent to defile. The jury recommended that Judge Burke F. McCahill impose a life sentence, plus an additional 30 years in prison.
The offenses occurred less than 24 hours after Milburn was released from prison where he was serving a sentence for
embezzlement.
According to the Sheriff's Office, officers responded to Tillman Terrace in Ashburn September 2004 after Milburn and his then 22-year-old victim got into a struggle. Milburn was reported to have had a razor blade to the victim's throat, according to the Commonwealth Attorney's Office.
During the sentencing phase of the trial, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Nicole Wittmann presented evidence of seven prior felony convictions of Milburn and successfully persuaded the jury to recommend one of the largest criminal verdicts in Loudoun County in decades.
A final sentencing hearing is currently scheduled for Oct. 13, at 9 a.m.
<sh>Rating Reaffirmed
<bt>The county's AAA bond ratings have been reaffirmed by all three major bond rating agencies. Moody's, Standard and Poor's, and Fitch Ratings issued the ratings in advance of the sale of $85 million in general obligation public improvement bonds June 14.
The taxpayers will benefit from Loudoun's triple-A bond ratings because the county will be able to obtain the most favorable interest rates when selling bonds to finance the construction of schools and other necessary capital facilities.
<sh>Man Charged in Fatal Crash
<bt>A two-vehicle crash Wednesday, June 21, near Ashburn took the life of one man and injured two others.
According to the Sheriff's Office, around 6 p.m. a 1994 Honda Civic driven by Juan Francisco Martinez, 25, of Herndon, ran the stop sign on eastbound Beaumeade Circle and entered the intersection with Loudoun County Parkway. In the intersection the Civic was hit by a 2004 Dodge Ram truck that was northbound on Loudoun County Parkway. The driver of the truck, Charles R. Daniels, 44, of Berryville, was not injured in the crash.
Two passengers in the Honda were airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital. Oscar Hernandez, 25, of Ashburn, was listed in stable condition as of Thursday morning. The second passenger, Juan Senobio Guevara of Herndon, was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Martinez was transported to the Lansdowne Campus of Inova Loudoun Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. He was charged with felony reckless driving and driving without a license. He was being held at the Loudoun Adult Detention Center without bond.
<sh>Three Arrested
<bt>Three juveniles were arrested Monday, June 19, during unannounced probation checks conducted by Loudoun Juvenile Probation along with local law enforcement.
The Loudoun County Court Service Unit working in conjunction with the members of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and the Leesburg Police Department conducted unannounced probation checks on 67 juveniles and adults on probation and parole with the Juvenile Court Service Unit.
The operation resulted in the arrest of three juveniles for probation and parole violations including testing positive for alcohol and marijuana.
Of the three offenders taken into custody during the operation one was released into the Supervised Release Program and two remained in the Loudoun County Juvenile Detention Center.
This was the 33 time that Operation Accountability has been conducted in Loudoun County during the past five years.