Bobby Dale Francisco, 30, was arrested Friday and charged with threatening bodily harm in writing, according to a Virginia Beach police spokesman. The crime is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Francisco was taken into custody at his home in South Mills, North Carolina, by a Currituck County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, according to a post on the office’s Facebook page. He’s being held on a $1 million secured bond until he can be extradited to Virginia, the post said.

St. John the Apostle Catholic School, which serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, received the threat Wednesday and contacted police, according to notices sent to parents. In one notice, Superintendent of Catholic Schools Michael Riley said the threat had been made “in response to news coverage” related to a recent student disciplinary decision made by the school.

The Virginian-Pilot and other local media outlets reported last week about the school’s decision to suspend a sixth-grade student after he told the principal a classmate had shown him a bullet during class. While the boy, 11, was told he did the right thing by reporting the incident, he also was informed that he would be punished for not reporting it immediately, according to his mother, Rachel Wigand.

Wigand contacted attorney Tim Anderson in an effort to get the decision reversed, but the school refused.

After receiving the threat, school officials decided to cancel classes Thursday, then extended the closure to Friday while police continued to investigate.

The school sent another notice late Friday announcing that an arrest had been made, and that classes would resume Monday. The Virginian-Pilot reached out to Virginia Beach police for details that day, but a spokesperson didn’t provide the information until Monday.

“Public opinion overwhelmingly supports my client that St. John’s wrongfully suspended her son,” Anderson said Friday before the arrest had been announced. “They are in the hot seat for making a dumb decision and now want the parents of the school to be mad at my client because school is shut down.”

Riley, however, wrote to parents that school officials must take such threats seriously.

“This has been a trying week for so many in our school community, and the disruption of our school closure may only deepen the sense of unease,” he wrote in Friday’s letter.

“We also know that, for some families, the school’s recent disciplinary decision may call into question the strength of our security policies. Let me be clear — our culture of safety requires that students and adults alike report potential threats as quickly as they are made aware of them; in a real emergency, gaps in reporting time may have major consequences for school safety … As with any disciplinary matter, we treat this as an opportunity to learn and move forward.”

Riley went on to caution parents against discussing student disciplinary decisions with news reporters.

“This week’s past events also show that media coverage of private disciplinary matters can invite unwanted attention from persons outside our school community,” he wrote. “We ask for caution and good judgment before taking private matters into the public arena as it can result in unintended consequences that threaten the safety of the school.”

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

A two-count criminal information was filed Sept. 10 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk against Matthew Taylor Morris, court records show. The records also indicate the 38-year-old attorney plans to enter a guilty plea in the case on Sept. 24.

Morris resigned from his job as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney Sept. 6, four days before the charges were filed, according to a spokeswoman for the office. He was hired in August 2022, the spokeswoman said. She declined to comment further.

Morris’ attorney James Broccoletti confirmed that Morris plans to plead guilty later this month, but also declined to comment further.

Morris is accused of working with at least three others to possess and distribute large amounts of marijuana, according to the complaint. The crimes are alleged to have occurred between March 2021 and May 2022, which was before Morris began his job with the prosecutor’s office.

The complaint didn’t specify how much marijuana was involved, but indicated it was less than 50 kilograms. The document also stated that Morris and alleged co-conspirators Nicholas Capehart, Donald Rogers and Jeffrey Sines “derived substantial gross proceeds” from the illegal dealings.

The marijuana was stored at locations across Hampton Roads, including a law office Morris maintained before becoming a prosecutor, according to the complaint. The group used encrypted cellphone messaging applications to avoid detection, the document said.

Morris’ legal troubles with the Virginia State Bar and local judges date back to at least early 2022. Over a period of several months that year, his law license was suspended three times, he was caught with a gun in his briefcase at the Virginia Beach courthouse on two separate occasions, was found in civil contempt three times by judges in the region, and was barred from handling criminal cases in Virginia Beach Circuit Court.

Morris’ first known disciplinary incident occurred in March 2022, when he was ordered to appear at a show cause hearing in Virginia Beach Circuit Court for the two incidents in which courthouse security officers found a gun in his briefcase.

Morris told Judge Les Lilley he’d forgotten the gun was there when he went through the building’s metal detectors. Lilley found him in civil contempt, but court documents didn’t indicate whether a punishment was issued.

That same month, the Virginia State Bar suspended his law license for a week for failing to comply with a legal education requirement. It was suspended again shortly after that for unpaid bar dues.

Also in March 2022, Virginia Beach Circuit Judge Stephen Mahan banned Morris from representing clients in criminal cases there after he showed up hours late to a court hearing and made troubling statements about the reason for his tardiness and mistakes he’d made in his client’s case.

In August 2022, the bar suspended his law license again — that time for six months — for a series of threatening texts he was accused of sending to a former client. According to the bar, Morris suspected the man had filed a complaint against him. He was hired by Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales that same month.

In October of that year, Morris pleaded guilty to a civil contempt charge in Northampton Circuit Court and was fined $250, according to the Shore Daily News. In that case, he’d failed to show up for a court hearing two months earlier, when he was still working in private practice.

While serving as a Portsmouth prosecutor, Morris continued to handle dozens of cases during a four-week period when his license was suspended, according to the state bar. He told bar officials he wasn’t aware of the suspension.

In March 2023 — when the bar was considering what action to take against Morris for the threatening texts — Morales submitted a character reference letter in which she described him as knowledgeable, professional and hard-working. She also wrote that she “couldn’t be more pleased” with her decision to hire him.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

The private school, which serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, initially planned to only close Thursday, but announced in a notice to parents later that day that it would keep its doors shuttered Friday.

Superintendent for Catholic Schools Michael Riley wrote that school officials have been working with law enforcement. He also said they’d determined the emailed threat of violence was sent by someone outside the Virginia Beach area with no ties to the school.

“And we know this individual sent the threat in response to new coverage he saw related to the school’s recent disciplinary decision,” Riley wrote.

The Virginian-Pilot and other local media outlets reported this week about the school’s decision to suspend a sixth grade student after he told the principal a classmate had a bullet. The boy, 11, was told he also would be punished because he didn’t report the incident immediately, according to his mother, Rachel Wigand.

Wigand said her son didn’t say anything right away because he wanted to wait until the other boy was no longer around. Both boys received the same 1½-day suspension, she said.

Wigand contacted attorney Tim Anderson in an effort to get the decision reversed, but the school refused. She’s now considering suing.

A Virginia Beach private school student reported a classmate had a bullet. Both students got suspended.

“Public opinion overwhelmingly supports my client that St. John’s wrongfully suspended her son,” Anderson wrote Friday. “They are in the hot seat for making a dumb decision and now want the parents of the school to be mad at my client because school is shut down.”

Riley, however, wrote in his letter to parents that school officials must take such threats seriously. A private security firm has been hired to help ensure a safe return to school next week, he wrote.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

“Hey, check this out,” the student said. In his hand was a long, gold bullet.

Shocked and not sure what to do, the other boy turned and joined his classmates in moving their desks into rows as their teacher had instructed, according to his mother, Rachel Wigand. Once the testing was over, the boy went to art class, as did the student who’d showed him the bullet, she said.

When a fire drill was called after that — and the other student was no longer around — the boy immediately went to his teacher and asked for permission to go to the principal’s office, Wigand said. There, he told principal Jennifer Davey what happened.

The police were called and a bullet was recovered, Wigand said, but it was different from the one her son saw the boy with in class. It’s not known if any other students saw it, but her son said several classmates were nearby when it was shown to him.

While Davey commended the 11-year-old for reporting the incident, she said he should have done so immediately, and therefore would have to be punished, according to Wigand. He was suspended for the rest of the school day, and the next day, which Wigand said turned out to be the same suspension the boy who brought the bullet to school received.

“I cannot wrap my head around this,” Wigand said Tuesday. “You punish the reporting person? I’ve never heard of anything like this.”

Wigand, who works in law enforcement, said her son told her he wanted to wait until the other boy wasn’t around.

“He waited until he felt safe,” she said. “If he had stood up in class and shouted, ‘He has a bullet,’ it would have caused chaos.” It also could have put her son in a difficult position, she said.

She said he’s a straight-A student who enjoys school and strives to do what’s right.

“I keep telling him I’m proud of him, and that he did the right thing,” Wigand said. “And he keeps asking, ‘If I did the right thing, then why am I being punished?’ One of the harshest things you could do to him is to take him out of school. He truly loves school.”

Wigand contacted attorney and former Del. Tim Anderson to see if he could persuade school officials to reverse the decision. Wigand said she’s concerned that a suspension on his record will continue to harm her son going forward, including when he applies for things like National Junior Honor Society. School officials denied their request.

“Our students and families are entitled to a safe and nurturing environment where learning can thrive,” Superintendent of Catholic Schools Michael Riley wrote in an email to The Virginian-Pilot. “The school cannot, and will not, take chances when it comes to student safety. As part of this charge, we expect students to bring safety issues to the attention of school staff immediately, and our school safety policies cement this expectation.

“While it would not be appropriate to speak to specific disciplinary matters, our disciplinary practices are both clearly defined and consistently applied.”

An attorney for the Diocese of Richmond, which oversees Catholic schools in the region, wrote Anderson that the disciplinary action would not impact the boy’s eligibility for honor society and would not be included on his transcript.

Anderson said Tuesday he and Wigand are considering suing the school and diocese for breach of contract. Imposing such an “arbitrary” sanction is a breach of the academic contract between the Wigand family and the school, he said.

There’s nothing in the school’s student handbook that takes into consideration the safety of the student reporting such an incident, Anderson said. It also doesn’t define ammunition as a weapon, and says nothing about punishment for a student who fails to immediately report the possession of ammunition, he said. Also, the level of punishment that Wigand’s son received is meant for students in possession of such items and Wigand’s son was never in possession, he said.

What’s most concerning to Anderson is the message that such a disciplinary action sends to other students and their families. It could lead them to stay quiet in a similar circumstance, he said.

“I think it sends a terrible safety message,” the attorney said. “The message being sent here is to just stay quiet. Because if you talk, and you talk too late, then you’re going to get the same punishment as the person violating the rules.”

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

Estaban Santillan, 19, was due in Chesapeake Juvenile and Domestic Relations General District Court on Tuesday for an arraignment but the hearing was postponed until next month. The case is being handled in juvenile and domestic relations court because the alleged victims in the case are children.

A document in Santillan’s court file said he was admitted for inpatient psychiatric treatment last week and was expected to remain there for five to seven days. There was no information in the file indicating whether he’s hired an attorney, or has had one appointed for him.

The alleged theft occurred on the afternoon of Aug. 14 on Bells Mill Road, and was captured by home surveillance cameras.

Rebecca Caldwell, 10, and her brother, Josh, 8, were selling lemonade from a table at the end of their driveway when a man pulled up in his car and offered to buy a cup, according to their mother, Annetta Caldwell, who had stepped inside moments before the man arrived. While Rebecca was pouring lemonade into a cup, the man grabbed a glass money jar from the table and fled in his car.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, the vehicle driven by the man was a silver Toyota Corolla with tinted windows and noticeable front and rear bumper damage. In addition to two home surveillance cameras outside the Caldwells’ home, the vehicle also was seen on nearby Flock street cameras, the complaint said.

Santillan was later involved in a traffic stop and confessed to the crime, according to the complaint. He initially was charged with misdemeanor theft, but the crime was later upgraded to a felony. A checklist for bail in Santillan’s court file said he works for a local shipyard and has no prior criminal history.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

Sutton’s attorney, Ari Stein, confirmed his client had decided to drop out but didn’t offer a reason for the change of heart. The decision leaves Sutton’s opponent, Mark Bohenstiel, as the only candidate who will appear on the November ballot. Incumbent Jessica Owens is not seeking reelection.

Sutton’s decision came shortly after Virginia Beach Circuit Court Judge Afshin Farashahi declined a request from Bohenstiel for an emergency order that would have prevented Sutton’s name from being included on the ballot as the registrar’s office prepares to send out mail-in ballots and begin early voting next week. Bohenstiel filed a lawsuit last week in which he claimed Sutton had failed to meet all the requirements needed to be eligible to run.

Farashahi’s ruling on Monday, however, was only a temporary measure until a trial on the matter could be held. No trial date was set, but it would have been held before the election.

Bohenstiel’s case centers on the petitions Sutton submitted to qualify for the race. Candidates had to obtain 125 valid signatures from qualified voters in the district. While Bohenstiel’s lawsuit didn’t challenge the authenticity of the signatures, it did question the dates included with some of them, as well as the process followed when the petitions were notarized.

During a hearing Friday before Farashahi, Sutton testified he did his best to follow all the rules for obtaining and submitting signatures. The retired teacher and school administrator said he dated the pages of signatures he collected as Feb. 3, which is when he began gathering them. Some, however, were obtained on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, he said.

A former student of Sutton’s who attends the University of Virginia helped collect signatures, along with two of his fraternity brothers, Sutton said. A notary public in Charlottesville who notarized the petitions submitted a written statement in which he said the petitions were signed before they were presented to him. In such cases, he wrote, the standard practice is to have the presenters swear to their signatures in the notary’s presence and then re-date them. They weren’t re-dated in this case, he said.

Farashahi said there wasn’t enough evidence presented at last week’s hearing to indicate whether Bohenstiel was likely to succeed at trial.

He also said that while Bohenstiel would suffer “irreparable harm” if Sutton’s name is included on the ballot at this time, and then he’s later determined to be ineligible, the harm to Sutton would be greater if he were kept off the ballot now and then were to prevail at trial.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

Sutton, a retired Virginia Beach teacher and school administrator, is running for the board’s District 3 seat. His opponent is Mark Bohenstiel, a small business owner. Incumbent Jessica Owens is not seeking reelection.

Bohenstiel sued Sutton last week, and asked the court to keep Sutton off the ballot. Also named as defendants were the city, the voter registrar, and members of the electoral board.

Bohenstiel’s case centers on petitions Sutton submitted to qualify for the race. Candidates had to obtain 125 valid signatures from qualified voters in the district to be declared eligible. While Bohenstiel’s complaint doesn’t challenge the authenticity of the signatures, it does question the dates included with some of them, as well as the process followed when the petitions were notarized.

During a hearing Friday before Circuit Judge Afshin Farashahi, Sutton testified he did his best to follow all the rules for obtaining and submitting signatures. He said he dated the pages of signatures he collected as Feb. 3, which is when he began gathering them. Some, however, were obtained on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, he said.

A former student of Sutton’s who now attends the University of Virginia helped collect signatures, along with two of his fraternity brothers, Sutton said. Testimony during Friday’s hearing suggested the students signed off on the petitions they’d circulated before presenting them to a notary of the public, which is not the proper procedure.

Also on Friday, Virginia Beach Electoral Board Chairman Jeffrey Marks told the judge the board would need to know by Tuesday what names to include on the ballot. Mail-in ballots are scheduled to go out Sept. 16, and early voting is set to begin Sept. 20, he said.

Farashahi said he would announce his decision on the injunction request Monday. The ruling, however, is unlikely to end the matter. A trial is still expected to be held before the election, and Farashahi said whatever decision he makes next week could end up changing after more evidence is presented at trial.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

When the 66-year-old didn’t answer their knocks on his door Sunday, they entered through an unlocked door. Upstairs, one neighbor found Seitz bound and dead on the floor and called police, according to a criminal complaint filed this week in Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

A cause of death wasn’t indicated in the court records and a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office didn’t respond Thursday to a request for information.

While working Sunday to clear Seitz’s townhouse on Roebling Lane, officers found a barricaded door, the complaint said. Once in, they found Seitz’s son, Seth. The 25-year-old had abrasions on his hands and legs, and one hand was sprained and swollen.

On Monday, Seth Seitz was charged with second-degree murder. He’s being held without bond in the city jail. Annette Miller, one of two public defenders appointed to represent him, declined to comment on the case Thursday.

Court records show Seth Seitz has been charged with attacking his father and mother on multiple occasions over the past seven years. He’s also been charged repeatedly with violating protective orders preventing him from having any contact with them, and has been ordered to undergo multiple psychiatric examinations to determine if he was competent to stand trial. In order to be competent for trial, a defendant must be able to understand the charges they face and help with their defense.

The first time police responded to Scott Seitz’s house for an alleged assault by his son was in July 2017, records indicate. The complaint in that case said Scott Seitz had thrown away some “baggies” while cleaning his son’s room. When Seth Seitz found out, he became angry, punched his father in the arm, then fled with his father’s cellphone, the document said.

The next incident occurred in June 2022 and involved Seth Seitz’s mother. In that case, police reported Seth Seitz had grabbed his mother, shaken her, then picked her up and threw her into a banister when she refused to go buy cigarettes for him. The mother obtained a protective order preventing him from having any contact with her afterward.

Man charged with 2nd-degree murder in death of his father, Virginia Beach police say

Two months later, Seitz’s mother reported that he’d punched and slapped her in the head multiple times, then prevented her from leaving the house or calling police. In addition to the alleged assault, Seitz was charge with violating a protective order and was ordered jailed.

While incarcerated, he called his mother multiple times to ask her to buy food, clothes, toiletries and cigarettes for him, which she refused, the documents said. He also asked if she knew how serious the charges against him were, and whether he was “going to prison for the rest of his life for doing nothing,” the complaint said.

He was again charged with violating a protective order by contacting her, the records show.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com 

Last week, Esteban Santillan, 19, was issued a summons charging him with petty larceny, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.

On Tuesday, Chesapeake police announced the charge had been upgraded to stealing U.S. currency valued at $5.00 or more from a person. The crime is similar to grand larceny and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. In such cases, the property must be under the immediate control or proximity to the victim, but is taken without violence or with minimal force.

A man stole $40 from a lemonade stand in Chesapeake. What happened next was overwhelming, the family said.

The theft occurred Aug. 14 on Bells Mill Road. Rebecca Caldwell, 10, and her brother, Josh, 8, were selling lemonade at the end of their driveway when a man pulled up in a car, approached them, then took off with a jar containing $40 that was on the table in front of them. The incident was captured by the family’s home security cameras.

After word of the theft spread, hundreds of people offered their support by buying lemonade from the siblings, or making a donation to them. As of last week, they’d collected more than $6,700.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com

“He seemed really friendly,” Rebecca said. “He was smiling and saying how he thought it was really cool that we were doing a lemonade stand.”

But after the 10-year-old girl turned her back to pour the man a cup, he snatched the glass money jar she and her 8-year-old brother had placed on the table in front of them, and fled in his car.

Stunned and a little frightened, Rebecca started to go inside to get their mom. That’s when she saw her brother start toward the man’s car. Josh said he was “kind of mad” and was planning to get the license plate number when his sister stopped him.

The children’s mother, Annetta Caldwell, said she couldn’t believe what happened. She had just stepped inside for a moment when the theft occurred.

“I got really upset,” Annetta said. “I actually went outside and tried to find the guy. I got in my car and tried to chase after him but God told me to stop, turn around and call the police, and that’s what I did.”

Annetta Caldwell quickly realized the crime may have been recorded. Her husband, director of engineering at Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach, recently installed a home surveillance camera on the fence behind where the children had been operating their stand, she said.

Turns out, the caper was captured on video. Even the smile on the man’s face as he walked toward the lemonade stand can be seen when zoomed in.

The Caldwells turned the footage over to arriving officers, and Chesapeake police announced Tuesday they’d made an arrest.

Esteban Santillan, 19, was charged with petty larceny. The crime is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. As of Friday, court paperwork had yet to be filed and Santillan’s trial date was not known. The Pilot was unable to reach him for comment.

Annetta Caldwell said surveillance footage showed the man drove past their house in a Toyota sedan three times that day.

“He’d been driving by and checking things out,” she said. “As soon as I went in (the house), he stopped the car and approached them.”

Annetta Caldwell posted the video and a description of the incident on the Nextdoor social media app to see if anyone could help identify the thief. The post was soon flooded with comments. Some commenters tagged WAVY TV, which then reported about the incident. The TV station also alerted its viewers that the children would be operating their lemonade stand again that Saturday to try to make up for the lost money.

What happened next was simply overwhelming, the Caldwells said. Hundreds of people on bikes, motorcycles, in cars and on foot stopped by to buy lemonade from the children, or simply make a donation.

Five fire trucks, an ambulance, and multiple police cars were among the vehicles that pulled up, they said. One couple gave the children $100 each. Within four hours they’d collected more than $6,000.

“It was amazing,” Annetta Caldwell said. “I started to cry when I saw how many people were supporting us. I felt very loved and I felt my kids were very loved, too. It was like we were in a movie.”

Checks fromaround the country also started arriving at the family’s house as more media outlets reported the incident. As of Friday, Rebecca and Josh had collected about $6,700 from last weekend’s stand, as well as the checks that were mailed, Annetta Caldwell said.

The children had been running their lemonade stand on a regular basis to save up enough money to buy a dirt bike for Josh and a four-wheeler for Rebecca, like their neighbors own and let them ride.

The pair plan to buy them soon with the money they’ve received, their mom said, and hope to put together a track on the 2 acres of land behind their home. Rebecca and Josh also plan to give some of the money to their older sister to support her mission works. The Caldwells have seven children in all.

The family said it’s been a whirlwind of emotions over the past couple of weeks, from the initial shock of someone brazenly stealing from a couple of young kids, to the heartwarming amount of support offered by strangers across the region and country.

“Oh yeah,” Rebecca, a fifth grader, said of the crazy turn of events, as well as all the attention she and her brother have received. “It’s been a lot, but it’s been really cool.”

As for future lemonade stands, Annetta Caldwell said she doesn’t expect her children to hold one anytime soon.

“We’re taking a little break,” she said.

Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com