The death Wednesday of a man injured May 13 in a two-vehicle crash in Henry County has raised the 2009 state highway death toll to 252. That is 50 fewer than the total at this time last year. Johnny O. Bond, 80, of Mayodan, N.C., was a passenger in a car that was leaving a business when it was struck by another car on U.S. 220, police said. He was wearing a seat belt, police said.

A Halifax County couple from Nathalie died in a single-vehicle crash Saturday when their Jeep left the road and struck a tree. State police reported that Gary V. Anderson, 47, and Rachel Terry Anderson, 49, died at the scene at 8:40 p.m. Both were wearing seat belts, police said. The crash occurred on U.S. 501, three-tenths of a mile south of state Route 795.

Virginia State Police dispatcher Michael P. Woods’ dream of being a contestant on “The Price is Right” came true last month.  Ashland resident Woods taped his appearance on the CBS game show April 14; it airs tomorrow at 11 a.m.  During his stint on the show, Woods, 29, got to spin the big wheel and bid on prizes, including a 2009 Ford Focus.

Authorities are investigating whether a man who pulled over a woman Friday in Henrico County was posing as a state trooper. The man was driving a silver or gray Dodge Intrepid when he stopped the 23-year-old woman on Etheridge Road near Horsepen Road and Glenside Drive shortly after 6 p.m., authorities said yesterday. The man activated a siren and a blue strobe light that was mounted beside his rear-view mirror, Henrico police Lt. Steve Sparagna said.

A 20-year-old man faces a DUI charge after police say he wrecked a car into a state police cruiser early yesterday morning, leaving a trooper with minor injuries. Alexander Patrick Weedon of Glen Allen was charged in the incident, which happened about 5:15 a.m. along Interstate 64 near the Shockoe Valley Bridge in Richmond. The car was eastbound when it ran off the left side of I-64, struck several barrels with sand in them and then slammed into the rear of the state police cruiser, which was stopped while trooper J.H. Lehman was conducting speed enforcement, authorities said.

Ex-officer facing 22 sex counts He’s jailed without bond as case now involves Chesterfield, Brunswick Former Virginia State Police Capt. Edward L. Hope Jr. was jailed without bond yesterday after being served with 22 new indictments that allege he sexually abused a young girl in Chesterfield and Brunswick counties. The former commander of the state police’s Information Technology Division surrendered to state po-
lice investigators at about 10 a.m. at the Chesterfield jail.

Ex-state policeman facing new counts In addition to January charge, he’ll face 12 more counts of sexual abuse A former Virginia State Police captain charged in January with sexually abusing a young girl was indicted yesterday on 12 new sex counts, including rape and sodomy. A Chesterfield County Circuit Court grand jury returned the additional charges against Edward L. Hope Jr., 52, of Goochland County. They include four counts each of rape, sodomy and object sexual penetration.

Virginia State Police is stepping up patrols along interstates in Hampton Roads as part of Operation Air, Land and Speed.

A special prosecutor concluded that a Virginia State Police trooper was justified in using deadly force earlier this year when he fatally shot a man in Floyd County.

A former Richmond-area branch manager for a mortgage firm has been charged with defrauding five mortgage companies and investors of up to $1.4 million. Stacy Lynn Chamberlain, 42, of Unionville has been charged with bank fraud, 18 counts of wire fraud and interstate transportation of money taken by fraud. Chamberlain was arrested today and faces a maximum of 360 years in prison and $5.25 million in fines if convicted. Her March 3 federal indictment was unsealed today.

Two former students from the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton who fantasized about an attack on teachers and fellow students never intended to carry out a plan, a judge ruled this week. The two boys “said some things they shouldn’t have. . . . What they said got taken out of context,“ defense attorney William W. Little said Tuesday.

Two people were killed in a fiery crash in Sussex County on Thursday. Police said Kevin Nathaniel Taylor, 20, of Emporia and Skylar Kirby Brockwell, 20, of DeWitt were in a car traveling south on state Route 638 around 9:30 p.m. when it ran off the road, about one-quarter mile north of state Route 602, struck a tree and caught fire. Taylor and Brockwell died at the scene. Police could not tell who was driving and said neither was wearing a seat belt.

A Virginia State Police captain accused of sexually abusing a girl over three years was released from jail yesterday after a Chesterfield County judge set his bond at $20,000. Capt. Edward L. Hope Jr., 52, had been held since his arrest at state police headquarters Jan. 26 on a single count of forcibly sodomizing a girl younger than 13. .

Citing Scriptures and Thomas Jefferson, the House of Delegates voted yesterday to approve legislation that would allow state police chaplains to invoke the name of Jesus Christ at state police events.

Icy roads were factors in three fatal crashes this week, Virginia State Police said. A 15-year-old girl died early yesterday after a wreck in Bedford County on Wednesday. Mariah Lynn Pitts of Lynchburg was a passenger in a pickup truck that was traveling on state Route 708, six-tenths of a mile south of U.S. 460. Police said the truck hit an ice patch, ran off the road to the right, struck a utility pole and overturned into a creek at 11:20 p.m. Pitts, who was not wearing a seat belt, died at Lynchburg General Hospital yesterday at 1:25 a.m., police said.