Family Thanks Officers Who Responded
In early December our house was broken into and we had goods and money stolen. The Washington County, Va., Sheriff’s Department responded quickly to our call. The department had already answered many calls for cases like ours. The deputy who came was efficient in checking for gained entry, fingerprints, listing what we could determine was missing and photographing the mess. He received a call while here of a similar problem in another area of the county. He advised that we would most likely find other things missing, which we did, and for us to let him or the department know.
We understand one suspect still had some of our belongings on him when he was taken into custody the same day of the break-in.
The expert work of the deputies and detectives resulted in arrests and most of our stolen items being recovered. We were amazed to see how much time and paperwork goes into returning stolen goods. It was done efficiently and to the very best of their ability.
Many of the victims will not get everything back and perhaps some will get nothing. But the department worked diligently and did not let up until they had the suspects in custody. Many times deputies have no information to rely on expect what neighbors can tell them. That information needs to be as accurate as possible. If no one has concrete data, then it is difficult to find a suspect. Including this break-in, we have had our home broken into and been stolen from six times over the past 10 years. This is the second arrest.
No one could give any information on the other four incidents. The deputies cannot be everywhere and some offenses go unsolved. We understand. We had no reason to complain about the unsolved cases.
Some members of the Burson Corner Neighborhood Watch were notified by us of this break-in. They called others about what was happening.
A call placed to someone who had a break-in just a few days before us tied our case to the same suspects. The sheriff’s department was already working on this connection.
Thank you to the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and those who worked with us: detectives Mike Martin and Byron Ashbrook, deputies Lucas Shelly, Capt. Jack Davidson, Maj. Blake Andis and Sheriff Fred Newman.
A special thank you to the entire department for a job well done.
Harry and Sally Heltzel
Bristol, Va.
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Reader Reactions
“Harry and Sally” wasn’t that a movie? just kidding. Something I want to draw attention to in the letter written by Harry and Sally Heltzel and that’s the involvement of the Burson Corner Neighborhood Watch Program members, and their contribution to the search and investigation. Neighborhood Watch Programs in Washington County Va. are supported by Sheriff Fred Newman and the Officer’s of The Washington County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Newman and his Officer’s work hard to promote the program throughout the County. Theses Officer’s take turns attending the meetings without pay and addressing the issues brought up by the handfull of citizens that attend. Everyone owes it to their community and neighborhood to attend these one hour meetings once a month to support the program. It’s a great program offered by the Sheriff’s Dept at no cost to the taxpayers, take advantage of it and join the Neighborhood Watch Program in your Community, you won’t regret it. Don’t just complain, be a part of a solution to help solve a crime.
It’s a good thing the family didn’t live in Russell County or Castlewood. The sheriffs department here couldn’t catch their own backsides with both hands. I can talk trash about the fat lazy bums because I know that if by some miracle they had enough education to read this they would be too lazy to do anything about it. It is ashamed we have to rely on these morons to provide police services for our community.
Please Sheriff Dye, do something or sep down because you suck as a human being.
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