Authorities are holding a Stuarts Draft man without bond on charges that he committed a rape more than a decade ago, Augusta County investigator Paul McCormick said Monday. Deputies on Friday charged Steven M. Mullins, 42, with the rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1994. The victim, now 28, reported the sexual assault in January, and investigators issued a warrant for Mullins’ arrest Feb. 2, McCormick said.

Authorities have barred a Stuarts Draft dog breeder from owning companion animals for two years. The move comes a few days after Kyle and Kim Brydge, owners of Oak Leaf Kennel, relinquished to authorities more than 90 dogs. The kennel failed to provided adequate care, food, water and shelter for 99 dogs, according to an Augusta County General District Court order signed by Judge Michael Quigley Jr., which bars the Brydges from owning such animals for two years.

A Stuarts Draft man charged with attempting to hire a hitman to kill his ex-wife and her boyfriend faces life in prison if convicted. An Augusta County grand jury on Monday indicted Thomas Laguardia Sr., 57, on two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder and two counts of attempted capital murder. Each of the solicitation charges carries a fiveto 40-year prison sentence. Attempted capital murder carries a possible life sentence.

Stuarts Draft Postmaster Kevin Blackford is nostalgic about the days when people wrote letters to one another and thinks it’s a shame that form of communication is less frequent. So a few months ago, Blackford thought to give students at Stuarts Draft’s Stump Elementary a stamped envelope so they could write letters to someone they knew.