By Michael Copley
Staff Writer

Man convicted of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl
Abraham Garcia Perez, 29, pleaded guilty through a Spanish-language interpreter, though his attorney, Anastasia K. Jones, told the court her client claimed to have been too intoxicated at the time of the offense to remember what happened.

The victim told investigators Perez only touched her, that there was no penetration.

The court convicted Perez of aggravated sexual abuse- made aggravated by the victim’s age- and continued the case for sentencing.

Juvenile inmate convicted of assaulting correctional officer
A 17-year-old inmate of Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center pleaded guilty to assaulting a staff member of that facility.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Beasley said the juvenile punched the staff member in the face several times. The victim suffered only minor bruising.

Defense Attorney Anastasia K. Jones indicated there was some kind of pre-existing animosity between the inmate and the staff member, and Judge Thomas V. Warren told the juvenile he would be able to explain the relationship to the court at sentencing. 

Cell phone smuggled into Powhatan Correctional Center
Dorothy Rose Abernathy said she smuggled a cellular phone to her husband, William Klein- also known as Gary Abernathy, in 2006 to prove, she said, that she loves him. Klein is serving a sentence for first degree murder. 

Dorothy Abernathy was released from custody with time served, for the six months she spent in jail leading up to her sentencing hearing. Her husband was senetnced to six months for possessing the contraband.

Sex offender improperly registers, breaks probation
Arthur L. Petty, 68, was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison in 2000 for aggravated sexual battery, indecent liberties with a minor and forcible sodomy. He was sentenced 15 years in prison with 10 years suspended.

When Petty was realeased from prison he listed one of his sons’ former addresses as his current residence on the sex offender registry. 

Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Beasley said it was a case of “[Petty] thinking about no one but Arthur Petty,” noting that another family, that now lives at the address Petty gave, has had to suffer through the fallout of their home being identified on the sex offender registry.

Defense attorney Anastasia K. Jones said “What [Petty] did was careless in the extreme,” but said he “didn’t try to do something malicious.” 

Petty was not given any additional jail time- he was in custody leading up to his probation violation hearing- and Judge Thomas Warren told him to take extra care when he is filling out the registration material in the future.