FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 25, 2012
Contact: Heather F. Williamson
Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office
20 East Market Street
Leesburg, VA 20176-2809
(703) 777-0242
PROBATION VIOLATION RETURNS GANG MEMBER TO PRISON
JUDGE RE-IMPOSES 4 YEARS OF PREVIOUSLY SUSPENDED TIME
LEESBURG, Virginia – September 24, 2012. Jimmy Joel DeLeon, 24, appeared before Judge James H. Chamblin in Loudoun County Circuit Court for a hearing after being charged with violating his probation. DeLeon is a known member of the criminal street gang “18th Street.”
DeLeon’s probation stemmed from a June 2009 incident in Sterling where he and two co-defendants were arrested for acts committed in association with the “18th Street” criminal street gang. DeLeon plead guilty to felony gang participation, misdemeanor assault, and misdemeanor destruction of property in December 2009. DeLeon was sentenced on March 22, 2010, to a total active sentence of 2 years in the Virginia Department of Corrections with an additional 4 years of suspended time, conditioned upon his good behavior, no contact with known gang members and full payment of restitution while on probation.
Within 4 months of his release from prison, DeLeon was arrested and ultimately convicted of Drunk in Public and two counts of assault in Fairfax County and given a 12 month sentence to serve. During the probation violation hearing, DeLeon testified that he committed the two new assaults in “self-defense” despite evidence that he struck another individual in the head with a bottle and his co-defendant discharged a firearm during the melee.
Judge Chamblin found DeLeon in violation of his probation and re-imposed the balance of his previously suspended time, totaling four years. DeLeon’s sentence will be served in the Virginia Department of Corrections. “Our community and our Courts have shown little tolerance for violent gang members,” stated Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman. “The inability to remain of good behavior while on probation for more than a four month period further justifies the decision made by the court to revoke the balance of his time.”
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