THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606010211
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 76 lines
William Jeremy Brickhouse, son of a captain in the Chesapeake Sheriff's Department, pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property in connection with an all-terrain vehicle taken from Givens Honda in 1994.
Circuit Judge J. Warren Stephens of Newport News ordered Brickhouse, 21, the son of Capt. William Brickhouse, to pay $633 in restitution to Givens Honda and to remain on good behavior for a year. Under the plea agreement, the misdemeanor charge will be dismissed if Brickhouse complies with the terms.
Brickhouse originally had been charged with receiving stolen property as a felony, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser offense.
He declined to comment after the hearing. His father said: ``I'm just glad it's over.''
In May, in a separate case, Allen Keith Butt, son of a veteran Chesapeake councilman, was acquitted of receiving stolen goods in a 5 1/2-hour bench trial. Butt also had been accused of receiving goods taken from Givens Honda.
In an interview Friday, special prosecutor Kenneth A. Phillips said Butt's acquittal played a role in his decision to offer a plea bargain to Brickhouse.
``I feel I have a lot less evidence of whether he knew it was stolen than in the Butt case,'' Phillips said. ``My own personal opinion is, yes, he did know it was stolen.''
Brickhouse's attorney, John W. Brown, said he considered the plea agreement a good decision.
``For a boy with no prior record, it's clear the best thing to do is what we're doing,'' he said.
The offense occurred after a conversation in which Brickhouse told an acquaintance that he wanted an ATV. A few days later, the acquaintance showed up with one. Shortly after that, William Brickhouse confronted his son about the ATV, the boy called the acquaintance and the ATV was removed, according to special prosecutor Phillips.
In a November 1995 letter from Phillips to Chesapeake Police Chief I.M. Shipley, a copy of which was obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, Phillips wrote: ``If the parties were not related, it would be my opinion that Captain Brickhouse would be an accessory after the fact to grand larceny.''
Because he is Jeremy Brickhouse's father, he cannot be prosecuted, Phillips wrote. Under state law, a close relative cannot be charged with being an accessory after the fact in a felony case.
``The evidence concerning Captain Brickhouse established that once he discovered that his son was in possession of a stolen ATV, he told his son to get rid of the ATV,'' Phillips wrote. ``Thereafter his son did remove the ATV from the Brickhouse residence. Captain Brickhouse did not report the incident to the police and in fact Captain Brickhouse contacted both Detective Barber and Detective Henderson asking for information about his son's case.''
In an interview after the hearing, Phillips said, ``I find it surprising that the captain did not call the police.''
William Brickhouse said after the hearing: ``We did absolutely nothing wrong.''
The Honda ATV, worth about $5,000, came into Jeremy Brickhouse's hands sometime between Oct. 21 and Oct. 31, 1994, authorities say. It was found in November 1994 in the Nottoway River in Southampton County, where it apparently had been discarded by two co-defendants, according to Phillips.
The restitution that Brickhouse was required to pay was the difference between what Givens paid for the ATV and its salvage value.
The Chesapeake Police Department came under fire in March over its handling of the cases involving sons of three city officials.
An internal investigation resulted in the reprimand of five officers, including Capt. William L. Spruill, the chief's administrative aide.
Council members dropped their focus on the Police Department's actions after the state police and the chief judge of the Circuit Court said that there was insufficient evidence to investigate.
On June 12, William Lawrence Spruill Jr., the 23-year-old son of Capt. Spruill, goes to trial in a separate case for grand larceny and breaking and entering in the theft of an ATV from the home of Chesapeake Vice Mayor Robert T. Nance Jr. MEMO: Staff writer Mac Daniel contributed to this report. by CNB