Town Hall Meeting
<bt>Louodun County Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott York will hold a Town Hall Meeting Thursday, June 28, at 7 p.m., in the auditorium at Seneca Ridge Middle School, 98 Seneca Ridge Drive, Sterling. York will address the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and its implementation of the transportation bill HB 3202, the proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment concerning the use of the power of eminent domain and other topics of concern.
<sh>Gang Awareness Forum
<bt>Members of the public are encouraged to attend an upcoming forum on gang awareness Friday, June 29, at 6:30 p.m., at Douglass School, 407 E. Market St., Leesburg. The event will include a presentation by the Gang Response Intervention Team (GRIT).
The forum is aimed at parents of middle- and high-school students. Topics will include the risk factors associated with gang involvement and the gang prevention services available to help parents. Information at the forum will be provided in English and Spanish.
For more information about GRIT or the forum, contact Ed Ryan, GRIT coordinator, at 703-777-0241.
<sh>Man Charged
<bt>A Sterling man has been charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault after he allegedly inappropriately touched a 9-year-old girl at a community pool.
According to the Sheriff's Office, the incident occurred Saturday afternoon when the child was at the Sugarland Community Pool located at 200 Greenfield Court. The victim was playing a game in the pool with a family acquaintance, Gaspare Giacchina, 67, when he allegedly touched her underneath her bathing suit, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The family reported the assault Tuesday, June 12, to the Sheriff’s Office. Giacchina was released by a Loudoun magistrate on a $10,000 secured bond.
<sh>A Doctor's Wrinkle
<bt>Sterling doctor David E. Berman treated patients for facial wrinkles with an unapproved drug that was intended for "research purposes only" and "not for human use," according to federal court documents.
Berman, 50, of Reston, pleaded guilty June 12, to misbranding a drug by offering it for sale in the name of another medication, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg.
Berman, who faces up to a year in prison and a maximum fine of $100,000, is scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Alexandria in October.
Berman treated patients in 2004 with the unapproved Botulinum Toxin Type A as if it was Botox Cosmetic, a form of the medication that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of facial wrinkles, according to the release. He did not inform his patients he was using an unapproved drug, according to court documents.
<sh>Fully Functional
<bt>At 11:42 a.m., Saturday, June 16, the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center in downtown Leesburg officially ceased operations. The inmates housed at the jail were transferred to the new state-of-the-art Adult Detention Center just off of Sycolin Road.
Members of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Corrections and Courts Security Division moved 95 inmates throughout the morning.
The new facility will have a capacity to hold 196 inmates. Part of the facility has been approved for double-bunking allowing the Loudoun ADC to accommodate 220 inmates when it opens in early summer. Plans are already in the works to expand the facility to house an additional 240 inmates. The phase II expansion is expected to be complete by 2011.
The new Adult Detention Center is replacing the agency’s 52-year-old jail located where Edwards Ferry Road and Market Street meet in Leesburg.
As of today the Sheriff’s Office is responsible for nearly 400 inmates. Due to spacing issues a majority of the inmates have been transported to other facilities in the region. Some of the inmates housed outside of the area will be returned to the area until the new jail is filled to its capacity.