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Faltz |
BY KEITH EPPS
Had he hung around King George Circuit Court yesterday morning, Ritchie A. Faltz Jr. would have served about 25 days in jail.
He's now likely to serve a lot more than that.
Faltz, 24, picked up three new felony charges after he barreled through deputies and dashed out of the courtroom after Judge Horace A. Revercomb III ordered him to serve three months in jail.
Faltz had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to pay $870 in restitution stemming from a 2003 incident in King George.
The debt was finally paid in April, but by then Faltz had been charged again.
Revercomb apparently agreed with Commonwealth's Attorney Matt Britton, who argued that Faltz deserved to serve some time for ignoring the court order for so long.
Faltz apparently wanted no part of the Rappahannock Regional Jail and took off, witnesses said, lowering his shoulder into bailiff Curtis Parker and ramming the deputy into a wall.
Sheriff Moose Dobson said the suspect continued out the front door of the courthouse building and headed east on State Route 3, past the Lewis Egerton Smoot Library.
He was steadily pulling away from deputies as he turned onto Luther Lane and into the woods.
"He was going so fast that I couldn't see what he looked like," circuit court employee Paula Jones said.
A manhunt that included the use of a helicopter and a tracking dog ensued, but Faltz was still on the loose as of last night.
Dobson said that residents in the area where Faltz was last seen were informed of the escape.
Britton said that Faltz, who lists addresses in Stafford and King George, is now charged with felony escape, felony obstruction of justice and felony assault on a law-enforcement officer.
He also faces the possibility of having nearly 20 years that were suspended on burglary and grand larceny convictions in Stafford reinstated.
Had he not run, Faltz would have had to serve only half of his sentence because the conviction is a misdemeanor. Because he had already served about 20 days, he would have been free in less than a month.
Britton said the initial King George charge against Faltz stemmed from an April 2003 incident in which an intoxicated Faltz destroyed a woman's door and damaged other property.
He got six months to serve and was ordered to pay $867 in restitution by October of that year.
Faltz failed to pay and was convicted of failing to make restitution in August of 2005, Britton said. He got three months to serve that time and was given a year to pay the restitution.
Britton said Faltz's father paid the restitution after Faltz was arrested again this year. He served about 20 days and was free on bond until yesterday.
Keith Epps: 540/374-5404
Email: kepps@freelancestar.com
