When the weather’s warm, watch out: Criminals, just like law-abiding citizens, are likely about. That’s according to Albemarle County Police Lieutenant John Teixeira, who jokes that February is his favorite month because it’s cold and “all the bad guys are inside.”
County police have had a fair number of robberies on their hands lately, the most serious of which is a robbery-turned-homicide. Forty-eight-year-old William W. Godsey died after he was beaten by robbers while accompanying his wife, who was closing at the Wood Grill Buffet. Police have not charged any suspects.
 These men—Catrell Lamarr Harris, Julian Hawpe Taliaferro III, and Roderick Wayne McDowell II (not pictured)—were arrested in connection with a recent strong-arm robbery on Commonwealth Drive. They’re alleged to be among a large set of hoodlums who’ve been on the prowl since the weather has warmed. |
But, county cops have made headway in other local robberies. Catrell Lamarr Harris, 23, Julian Hawpe Taliaferro, III, 30, and Roderick Wayne McDowell II, 23, have been charged in an April 2 strong-arm robbery on Commonwealth Drive. The victim was struck over the head and his wallet was stolen. Harris and McDowell were additionally charged in a March 25 robbery on Commonwealth.
Police have also arrested one suspect for a late April robbery at the Carmike Cinema off Route 29N. Eighteen-year-old Christopher James Benck has been charged with donning a ski mask and brandishing a handgun while burglarizing the cash drawer.
And county police had a huge breakthrough last month when arrests were made in the Hessian Hills/Canterbury Hills robbery string. William Frances Breckinridge, reportedly a prolific local burglar from the 1980s, has been charged with about 30 home robbery incidents in those neighborhoods off Barracks Road.
Teixeira says robberies—armed and unarmed—have been on the rise in the county but police aren’t planning a press conference to address the spike in crime. “You do tend to go through spurts like this,” Teixeira says, but the plan is to keep chipping away at individual cases.
“It’s a lot of work, but that’s our job,” Teixeria says. “That’s what we get paid for.”
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